A bird of prey, or raptor, is a bird that hunts other animals using sharp talons and a hooked beak. Hawks, eagles, falcons, owls, ospreys, and vultures are all raptors.
Raptors share a hunting toolkit even though they look and behave differently. This page covers what makes a bird a raptor, the adaptations that let them hunt, the US law that protects them, and how to watch them safely in the wild.
What makes a bird a raptor?
A raptor is a bird built to catch and kill other animals for food, using strong grasping feet and a hooked beak built for tearing meat. The group includes hawks, eagles, falcons, ospreys, owls, and vultures, spanning several different scientific orders rather than one single family. See our full animals section for more on how different species are classified.
Owls are the nocturnal raptors, hunting mostly at night or twilight. Hawks, eagles, falcons, ospreys, and most vultures are diurnal, hunting during the day. This page treats vultures as raptors because they share the hooked beak, even though most vultures scavenge rather than hunt live prey. Old World vultures, found in Africa, Asia, and Europe, belong to the same family as hawks and eagles. New World vultures, such as the turkey vulture, belong to their own family, Cathartidae.
How do talons help a raptor hunt?
Talons let a raptor grip, pierce, and hold prey, and different raptors use them in different ways. According to Cornell Lab’s Bird Academy, most raptors use their beaks to actually kill and cut up prey, while their talons do the work of catching and holding on. Ospreys have rough pads and a reversible outer toe built to grip slippery fish, and falcons have such precise foot control that some species can eat while still flying.
This section covers feet and talons only. It does not cover beak shape in detail, which differs by diet and is covered in the next section.
How good is a raptor’s eyesight?
Raptor eyesight is sharper than human eyesight, built around large eyes packed with light-detecting cells. The University of Minnesota Raptor Center explains that a hawk can spot a small animal from far overhead where a person would see only grass. Many raptors also have four types of color-sensing cells instead of the three humans have, and some may be able to see a little ultraviolet light, though researchers disagree about how much raptors use it when hunting.
Owls trade some of that sharpness for extreme sensitivity to dim light, which is what makes night hunting possible, and they rely on excellent hearing as well. This section covers vision only and does not cover hearing in owls beyond this brief mention.
Are birds of prey protected by law in the United States?
Yes. Most raptors native to the United States are protected under the Migratory Bird Treaty Act of 1918, enforced by the US Fish and Wildlife Service. The law makes it illegal to kill, capture, sell, or transport a protected bird, its nest, or its eggs without federal authorization.
Eagles carry extra protection under a separate federal law, the Bald and Golden Eagle Protection Act. This section describes US federal protection only. It does not cover state laws, which can add further restrictions, or protections in other countries.
How can I watch raptors safely?
Watch from a distance with binoculars, stay on marked trails, and never approach a nest or a bird on the ground. Getting too close can cause a raptor to abandon a nest or waste energy it needs for hunting, especially during nesting season in spring.
Many nature centers and parks host organized hawk watches during migration, when raptors ride rising air currents in large numbers, and these events are a safer way to see many birds at once than searching alone. For more on how animals like raptors are built for their environment, see our animal adaptation section. This section covers casual observation only, not licensed falconry or wildlife rehabilitation, which require separate federal and state permits.
Sources
- Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Bird Academy. All About Raptor Feet
- University of Minnesota Raptor Center. Bird’s Eye View
- US Fish and Wildlife Service. Migratory Bird Treaty Act of 1918