A single bird in a tall tree.
Watching.
Waiting for the right moment.
They have claws that kill.
They have beaks that kill.
And they will use both at the right time.
They swoop down.
Diving through the air faster and faster.
In a blur of talons and feathers the bird catches its prey.
Because this, is one of the Birds of Prey
Birds of prey all have things in common - they are built for the hunt.
They have strong talons that grab onto prey.
Their beaks are hooked for tearing food.
They have amazing eyesight for finding their next meal.
The group called birds of prey is also known as the group of raptors.
Raptor is a Latin word, meaning one who seizes by force.
Sight
These birds have such good vision!
A falcon can see eight times as much detail as you!
So if you can see this then a falcon can see this!
Birds of prey need good eyesight because they are spotting prey animals from very high up.
Essentially, they are able to see this from here.
You will most often see birds of prey on tall perches, where they can see the most ground,
or soaring through the air, where they can see even more!
Another interesting thing about their vision is that
In your eye there is one area with the most sensitivity.
It's why you have to look forward to see this video clearly.
Most birds, of prey, except owls, have two of these patches, so they have that ultra-sharp
vision in a wider range.
Wings
There are two major wing types you will see
in birds of prey.
One is the delta wing.
These are on falcons and other fast hunters.
The delta wing is decent for long flights, but it shines during a hunt.
A falcon who spots some food can tuck in its wings into a trianglar shape and dive.
The delta wing gives just enough control to steer, but reduces air resistance.
The peregrine falcon is the fastest bird in the world, traveling up to 240 miles per hour
as it dives into a stoop!
The other type of wing you usually see is the slotted wing.
This wing is optimized for lifting heavy things.
Those things could include prey animals like fish, or they could include lifting the heavy
bird itself.
You will often see birds with slotted wings soaring around in circles in the sky.
These birds are riding plumes of warm air rising from the ground, saving their energy
while they look for things to eat.
Let's talk about the different groups of birds that are considered Birds of Prey.
Accipitridae This includes Eagles, Hawks, Kites, Buzzards,
Harriers, and Old World Vultures.
The biggest group of birds of prey, there are just over 250 species.
These include all the Eagles, Hawks, Kites, Buzzards, Harriers, and Old World Vultures.
Almost all the birds in this group are hunters that eat living or dead animals.
Their food of choice changes with their body size.
The smallest accipitrid is the Little Sparrowhawk, who lives in Africa and is only 9 inches long
and weighs just over 2.5 ounces.
The largest is the Eurasian Black Vulture, at up to 47 inches tall and weighing 25 pounds.
For the birds of prey which hunt and catch food, once a prey animal is spotted, the raptor
swoops down.
They focus their eyes on their prey and dive.
They have a third eyelid that clears any dust or bugs that hit their eyes, and spreads a
thick fluid that keeps their eyes from drying out.
Raptor strength is in their feet.
Just before striking the prey, they stop flapping and extend their feet out in front of them.
They grab their prey and spread their wings to maximum braking posture, with wings outstretched
and feathers open.
Most birds of prey kill the animal by puncturing it with their talons.
The Harpy Eagle can apply 500 pounds per square inch with its talons, enough to kill fairly
large mammals.
Most of these birds will also eat dead animals if they find one.
But vultures take that to a whole different level.
More on them in a minute.
Whenever we talk about living things there are exceptions.
And in a group this big, there are lots.
For example, the Palm-nut Vulture does not feed primarily on meat.
Adults get 60% of their diet from the fruit of palm trees.
And the bearded vulture has a diet that is 70 to 90% bones.
Just... bones.
They are worth learning about for their own sake, but this video is going to take a broad,
soaring overview of the birds of prey.
Cathartidae - New World Vultures
There are two groups of birds called vultures, even though they are only distant cousins
on the family tree.
The Old World Vultures are in Africa, Europe, and Asia, aka the "Old World".
The New World Vultures are in North and South America, aka the "New World".
Both groups of birds look kind of the same and eat mostly dead animals, so they got the
same common name.
Any similarity in appearance is because they face the same challenges in eating the same
type of food.
So both groups have reduced talon strength compared to other birds of prey.
Their beaks are not as strong either.
And they have reduced feathers on their heads, or are completely bald.
And they all have STRONG stomach acid to digest their food quickly and kill any bacteria or
diseases that might be lurking inside.
All Old World Vultures and some New World Vultures hunt by sight alone.
But some New World Vultures have an extra trick.
They can smell their food from the sky.
In one experiment, researchers hid 74 dead chickens, some under trees, some out in the
open, some covered in leaves.
Turkey Vultures found 71 of them within 3 days.
When it comes to hunting, New World Vultures follow their noses.
Besides the sense of smell, there are three other obvious differences between the groups.
Old World Vultures can vocalize.
[vulture sounds] New World Vultures just grunt and hiss.
Old World Vultures build nests.
New World Vultures don't.
And New World Vultures cool themselves by defecating on their own legs.
Old World Vultures, and basically every other kind of animal, do not use this cooling strategy
for some weird reason.
Now you know!
Pandionidae - Ospreys Ospreys were placed in their own category
within the Birds of Prey.
They live on every continent except Antarctica.
But it's just one species all around the globe.
They are specialists in eating fish, which make up 99% of their diet.
Here are some of their unique fish-eating features.
Their feet have lots of gripping scales and spikes.
And check out those talons!
They can close their nostrils to keep out water, and their feathers are water-resistant.
The Osprey dives from a great height when it sees a fish, splashing hard into the water.
It tries to take off but can’t without losing its grip.
It uses its feet to hold on, then takes off with a very big meal.
One other fun thing about ospreys is that they use their reversible toes to hold fish
like this, parallel to their bodies, for efficiency as they fly back to their roosts.
Falconiformes - Falcons and Caracaras Falcons are usually smaller than other birds
of prey.
The smallest is the Black-thighed falconet, which weighs not quite as much as a golf ball.
But then again, the gyrfalcon weighs almost 4 pounds so there is no definite guideline.
For the birds of prey that hunt, almost all of them swoop down and grab food with their
feet.
There are variations, of course, to this hunting strategy.
The Peregrine Falcon, going up to 240 miles per hour as it dives in a stoop, will hit
a bird with its rear talon as it flies past, to avoid killing
itself in the impact.
Then it turns around and catches the stunned prey.
But the result is the same.
The bird of prey has caught and killed its next meal.
Caracaras are related to the speedy falcons, but they are usually scavengers.
Native to Central and South America, they eat fruit, carrion, and small animals.
Strigiformes - Owls Owls are the masters of night-time hunting
among the birds of prey.
There are around 200 species of owls.
They have big, tubular eyes that cannot move, but they have flexible necks that let them
turn their heads 270 degrees in both directions.
They have way more rod-shaped receptors in their eyes, giving them great vision in the
dark.
And their feathers are specialized for silent flight.
Owl eyes reveal something about their lifestyles.
Owls that have dark eyes tend to hunt at night.
Their eyes are so sensitive that they need to block out as much light as possible.
Owls with light eyes, like these brilliant yellows and oranges, tend to hunt during dawn
and dusk.
It’s not a perfect guide, but it’s pretty cool!
One other thing I learned is that the Eurasian Eagle Owl only weighs about 3 pounds, but
it can lift up to 22 pounds with its strong talons, feet, and wings!
Owls are important for controlling prey populations.
Prey species will almost always produce more offspring than the environment can support,
and owls help reduce the number to a more sustainable population.
An interesting thing about the way owls eat is that they swallow their food whole, then
regurgitate the undigestible parts in a pellet.
If you see an owl pellet, you could take it apart and find all the bones, teeth, and fur
of its last meal.
Unlike most owls, Burrowing Owls are often active during the day, though they tend to
hunt at night.
They nest in burrows rather than trees.
Which shows just how many different ways there are for living things to succeed.
Birds of prey are an exclusive group, and there are a few birds that did not make the
cut.
The Kookaburra.
It's a bird with good eyesight that sits in trees, then swoops down and catches land animals.
From their feeding habits they are basically an Australian daytime owl.
Not in the group.
Shrike.
A terrifying bird that catches animals and skewers them on sharp branches before tearing
and eating them.
Hooked beak, eats meat.
Not in the group.
Penguins.
They exclusively eat meat, including relatively large fish.
They have partially hooked beaks and scary, scary mouth spines.
Not in the group.
Herons and Egrets.
They perch patiently and wait for prey, then strike with ferocious force.
Not in the group.
Storks.
Eat small animals and carrion, which should fit them in the group of raptors.
But they're not in the group.
Gulls.
Partially hooked beak for tearing fish.
Can dive to catch food.
Not in the group.
Skuas.
Like a scarier version of the gull.
Partially hooked beak for tearing prey.
Chases larger prey like other birds.
Not in the group.
Tawny Frogmouth.
Looks like a bird of prey, eats bugs.
Not in the group.
Sorry other birds.
While you are cool in your own ways, you are not raptors!.
Ecology While birds of prey are magnificent animals,
why should we care about them?
Because they are VERY important to healthy ecosystems.
Balance Birds of prey tend to eat plant-eating animals.
By lowering the numbers of herbivores, birds of prey allow plant species to thrive.
If birds of prey were to disappear from the world, herbivore numbers would soar and they
would destroy and eat more plants.
Disease Control Vultures have an unappreciated role in maintaining
healthy ecosystems - they eat dead things.
Rotting animals can spread disease and provide food for bacteria and flies.
But vultures clean up most of the dead animal right away.
In the vulture study we talked about earlier, the vultures removed 90% of the original weight
of chicken carcasses, just leaving a few bones and scraps behind.
By leaving so little behind, they reduce the amount of decaying matter, which prevents
disease spread and reduces the numbers of flies and bacteria.
Human Impact Birds of prey get a bad reputation for attacking
livestock.
They live on tall perches, which means they sometimes nest on power poles.
And all animals face the threat of habitat loss as farms and cities grow bigger.
For birds of prey, this means less food and fewer places to live.
Almost all species of raptors are declining in population.
Vultures have a particular problem in that any poison used to kill a pest animal can
end up being eaten by vultures.
They clean up all dead animals, and any poison left in their systems can also kill the vulture.
But there are some bright spots.
Peregrine falcons are being reintroduced in cities like New York.
They nest on tall buildings, and they hunt birds like pigeons that also live in cities.
Their numbers are rising as they adapt to this new place to live.
Also, there are people working hard to rehabilitate and release injured birds of prey.
An unexpected bright spot is power companies that help birds of prey.
They build nesting platforms into their power poles.
An example is Manitoba Hydro, who built platforms for ospreys next to their transmission lines.
It provides a safe place for the ospreys to nest, and saves the company time and effort
in maintaining their lines.
It’s a win-win for birds of prey and humans.
These birds are inspiring, majestic, and beautiful.
And I hope you understand now how important and interesting they are as well!
And next time you see one of them perching in a tall tree or wheeling overhead, you will
know they are one of the Birds of Prey.
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Thanks for taking the time to learn what makes Life awesome!