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Birds · 18 species guides

Birds of Prey: Raptors & Owls

Birds of prey are hunting birds with hooked bills for tearing flesh, forward-facing eyes for judging distance, and powerful gripping talons; the group covers eagles, hawks, buzzards, kites, falcons, ospreys, vultures and condors, plus the owls, which hunt the same way at night.

Bill
Hooked and sharp-edged, for tearing rather than pecking or probing. Visible even at distance in profile.
Eyes
Forward-facing, giving binocular vision and depth perception. Owls take this furthest — their eyes are fixed in the skull, which is why the head swivels instead.
Feet
Heavy talons with a strong opposable hind toe. Ospreys add spiny scales for gripping fish; owls can rotate the outer toe backwards.
Flight silhouette
Broad fingered wings and soaring flight in eagles, buzzards and vultures; long pointed wings and fast flapping in falcons.

Birds of prey are defined by equipment rather than ancestry. A hooked bill for tearing, forward-facing eyes that give the depth perception needed to judge a strike, and feet built to grip and kill — those three things describe an eagle, a falcon and an owl equally well, despite falcons being more closely related to parrots than to eagles.

That mismatch between how the group looks and how it is classified is one of the more useful things to understand about birds. Recent genetic work split the traditional raptors apart: falcons sit in their own order, closer to parrots and songbirds, while eagles, hawks and vultures belong to Accipitriformes. The tools were arrived at separately because the job is the same.

Key facts

  • Birds of prey are grouped by hunting equipment, not shared ancestry — falcons are genetically closer to parrots than to eagles.
  • All have hooked bills, forward-facing eyes and gripping talons; owls are the nocturnal expression of the same design.
  • The peregrine falcon reaches around 320 km/h in a hunting stoop, the fastest verified speed of any animal.
  • Females are typically larger than males, the reverse of most birds, and the gap is widest in species that hunt other birds.
  • Vultures are birds of prey that almost never kill: they are obligate scavengers, and their collapse in South Asia caused a documented public-health crisis.
  • Rodenticide is a major modern threat — poison accumulates up the food chain into the raptors eating poisoned rodents.

How to recognise them

The features that separate this group in the field, in the order they are usually most useful.

Bill
Hooked and sharp-edged, for tearing rather than pecking or probing. Visible even at distance in profile.
Eyes
Forward-facing, giving binocular vision and depth perception. Owls take this furthest — their eyes are fixed in the skull, which is why the head swivels instead.
Feet
Heavy talons with a strong opposable hind toe. Ospreys add spiny scales for gripping fish; owls can rotate the outer toe backwards.
Flight silhouette
Broad fingered wings and soaring flight in eagles, buzzards and vultures; long pointed wings and fast flapping in falcons.
Size difference
Females are usually larger than males — reverse sexual dimorphism, most pronounced in bird-hunting species.

18 birds of prey guides

Search or filter by conservation status. Every guide carries sourced facts, IUCN status and FAQs.

Showing 1-18 of 18 animals

Animal group
Bald eagle with white head and yellow beak on a pine branch
Least Concern

Birds

B

Bald Eagle

Haliaeetus leucocephalus (Linnaeus, 1766) — family Accipitridae

A fish eagle that came back from about 400 pairs — and one of conservation's clearest wins.

North America — Alaska, Canada, the contiguous United States and northern Mexico · Coasts, large lakes and major rivers

Open guide
Barn owl with heart-shaped white face perched on a fence post
Least Concern globally; locally declining across intensively farmed landscapes

Birds

B

Barn Owl

Tyto alba (Scopoli, 1769) — family Tytonidae

The most widely distributed land bird on Earth — and it hunts almost entirely by ear.

Every continent except Antarctica · Farmland, grassland, marsh edge and rough grass margins

Open guide
A common buzzard perched on a fence post, showing its broad body, brown plumage with a pale chest band, hooked yellow-and-grey beak and piercing dark eye, against a soft green countryside background.
Least Concern

Birds

C

Common Buzzard

Buteo buteo

The broad-winged, mewing raptor that became Britain's commonest bird of prey.

United Kingdom · Europe

Open guide
A common kestrel hovering with fanned tail and beating wings against a pale sky, its chestnut-brown back and dark wingtips visible as it hunts over open grassland.
Least Concern

Birds

C

Common Kestrel

Falco tinnunculus

The hovering falcon that hunts by the glow of vole urine.

Europe · Asia

Open guide
An adult male Andean condor (Vultur gryphus) soars with wings fully spread against a clear blue sky near Farellones, Chile, displaying its distinctive black plumage, white neck ruff, and bare orange-yellow head.
Varies by species: Andean Condor

Birds

C

Condor

Vultur gryphus (Andean) / Gymnogyps californianus (California)

The largest flying land birds in the Western Hemisphere — ancient scavengers whose fate hangs on the choices humanity makes

South America · Andes Mountains

Open guide
A golden eagle with broad wings and a hooked beak soaring above mountain ridges, its talons tucked beneath its body.
Varies by species

Birds

E

Eagle

Family Accipitridae — ~60 eagle species in genera Aquila, Haliaeetus, Harpia, Pithecophaga and others

The apex raptors of sky and forest — power, vision and cultural reverence on every continent.

Worldwide except Antarctica

Open guide
A peregrine falcon with blue-grey upperparts and a black moustache stripe stooping at speed against a cliff backdrop.
Varies by species

Birds

F

Falcon

Family Falconidae — ~65 species in genus Falco and related genera

The fastest animals on Earth — precision hunters of sky and cliff.

Worldwide except Antarctica

Open guide
Golden eagle perched on a rocky crag showing golden-brown nape feathers and powerful talons
Least Concern

Birds

G

Golden Eagle

Aquila chrysaetos

One of the largest and fastest birds of prey

North America · Europe

Open guide
Great horned owl with prominent ear tufts and yellow eyes perched in a forest at dusk
Least Concern

Birds

G

Great Horned Owl

Bubo virginianus

The powerful nocturnal hunter with feathered tufts

North America · South America

Open guide
A massive grey-and-white Harpy Eagle perched on a rainforest branch, its double-pointed black crest raised, fixing the camera with dark eyes above a hooked beak and enormous yellow talons gripping the bark.
Vulnerable

Birds

H

Harpy Eagle

Harpia harpyja

The rainforest's apex raptor, armed with talons longer than a grizzly bear's claws.

Brazil · Colombia

Open guide
A red-tailed hawk (Buteo jamaicensis) soaring in open flight directly toward the camera against a clear blue sky, wings fully spread showing brown upper plumage and pale barred flight feathers
Varies by species

Birds

H

Hawk

Family Accipitridae — ~250 species including buzzards, kites and true hawks (genus Accipiter)

The versatile raptors of field and forest — sharp-eyed hunters on every continent.

Worldwide except Antarctica

Open guide
An osprey (Pandion haliaetus) soaring in full flight against a clear blue sky, showing its characteristic dark brown upperparts, white underparts, dark eye-stripe, and angled "M-shaped" wings with spread primary feathers.
Least Concern

Birds

O

Osprey

Pandion haliaetus (Linnaeus, 1758)

The fish hawk — a global raptor built for one prey, recovered from near extinction.

Worldwide — all continents except Antarctica

Open guide
A wild barn owl (Tyto alba) in flight with wings spread and its heart-shaped white facial disc facing forward against a blue sky.
Varies by species

Birds

O

Owl

Strigiformes

Silent-winged night hunters found on almost every continent.

Worldwide

Open guide
Peregrine falcon perched on a cliff ledge with slate-grey back and barred chest
Least Concern

Birds

P

Peregrine Falcon

Falco peregrinus

The fastest animal on the planet

North America · South America

Open guide
A red kite in flight against a pale sky, showing its rich rufous-brown body, deeply forked tail, and long angled wings with pale patches and dark tips.
Least Concern

Birds

R

Red Kite

Milvus milvus

The forked-tailed raptor that came back from the brink in Britain.

Europe · United Kingdom

Open guide
Secretary bird with grey body, black flight feathers, crest of head feathers and long bare pink legs walking through African savanna grass
Endangered

Birds

S

Secretary Bird

Sagittarius serpentarius (Miller, 1779) — family Sagittariidae

A raptor that walks rather than soars — and kills snakes by stamping them at a speed the eye can barely follow.

Sub-Saharan Africa · Open savanna and grassland

Open guide
Snowy owl in white winter plumage on Arctic snow
Vulnerable

Birds

S

Snowy Owl

Bubo scandiacus (Linnaeus, 1758) — family Strigidae

A day-hunting Arctic owl whose breeding success rises and falls with the lemming cycle.

Arctic tundra of North America, Greenland, Scandinavia and Russia · Irregular winter movements far south of the breeding range

Open guide
A vulture with a bald, unfeathered head and broad dark wings perched beside an animal carcass on dry open ground
Varies; many Old World vultures Critically Endangered

Birds

V

Vulture

Old World vultures (family Accipitridae) and New World vultures (family Cathartidae)

Nature's clean-up crew, vanishing fast in parts of Asia and Africa

Africa · Asia

Open guide

Conservation: what this group faces

Raptors sit at the top of food chains, which makes them the first group to show what is accumulating below them. The DDT crisis was detected through eggshell thinning in peregrines and ospreys; today it is second-generation rodenticides, which build up in birds that eat poisoned rodents. Vulture declines in South Asia exceeded 97% within a decade after the veterinary drug diclofenac entered cattle carcasses, and the resulting collapse in carcass disposal has been linked to measurable increases in human disease.

Fund bird protection Current appeals

Birds of prey: frequently asked questions

What is a bird of prey?
A bird that hunts vertebrate prey using a hooked bill, forward-facing eyes and gripping talons. The group includes eagles, hawks, buzzards, kites, falcons, ospreys, vultures and condors, plus owls, which use the same equipment at night.
Are owls birds of prey?
Yes. Owls have hooked bills, forward-facing eyes and gripping talons, and hunt live vertebrate prey. They are not closely related to eagles and hawks — they form their own order, Strigiformes — but they are raptors by function.
What is the largest bird of prey?
By wingspan, the Andean condor at up to 3.3 m. By weight and killing power, the harpy eagle and Philippine eagle, both of which take monkeys and sloths and have talons comparable in size to a bear's claws.
What is the fastest bird of prey?
The peregrine falcon, which reaches roughly 320 km/h in a hunting stoop — the fastest verified speed of any animal. In level flight it is far slower; the speed comes from a controlled dive.
Why are female birds of prey bigger than males?
This is reverse sexual dimorphism, and it is most pronounced in species that hunt other birds. Leading explanations include reducing competition between a pair by letting them take different prey sizes, and the female's role in defending the nest.
Are birds of prey endangered?
Many are. Vultures are the worst affected — several Asian and African species are Critically Endangered after catastrophic declines. Rodenticide poisoning, persecution, habitat loss and collisions with power lines and turbines affect raptors worldwide.

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