112 birds of prey or raptors: types, names and photos

Birds of prey, birds of prey or birds of prey have common characteristics, such as strong claws with long nails and powerful muscles. They usually have a strong and powerful curved beak . They usually have a large body, although their head is relatively small with large eyes. All these characteristics make them have an admirable and imposing beauty.

Normally, they feed on live prey , which can vary depending on the size of the species. For example, a small bird of prey such as the kestrel can capture small mammals, small birds and insects, while the golden eagle feeds on micro mammals, small mammals and larger mammals, which it kills with its powerful claws and beak. and cuts and tears its meat with its beak with great ease. In the image below you can see a bearded vulture feeding.

Here we leave you information about The great importance of birds for the environment .

According to their habits, two large groups of raptors can be distinguished . These are:

Nocturnal birds of prey

This group includes the strigids (owls) and titons (owls) . They are characterized by having adaptations to improve their hearing capacity and to reduce the noise they make when flying.

These birds live at night, when the sense of hearing is much more important than that of sight. Their face is rounded and their beak is short, which is important to concentrate the sound of their prey a lot, so they are very sensitive to small movements.

Diurnal birds of prey

This group of birds are more diverse than the nocturnal ones. Among the diurnal raptors, the best known are eagles , which are the largest hunting birds and inhabit all ecosystems, or hawks and kestrels, which are among the fastest birds on the planet.

A special type of diurnal raptors are ghouls , which feed on carrion but do not kill their prey. They are very heavy and large birds, such as vultures or condors. In this other AgroCorrn article we explain more about what scavengers are with examples .

Next, we will see 112 examples of birds of prey and their photos .

It is one of the best known and widely distributed raptors in the world, as it is found in North and Central America, Eurasia and North Africa. Some important populations are found in Great Britain, Japan, Vancouver, and the Mediterranean. Golden eagle populations in Central Europe have been reduced due to human activity.

Large bird of prey or prey that is distributed in various areas of Asia, Africa and Europe. It is common in Northwest Europe and in the Mediterranean area, such as the Iberian Peninsula. Due to the easy captive breeding of the Eurasian Eagle Owl it is commonly used in falconry.

It is a large bird of prey typical of Africa and characterized by its neck devoid of feathers and pink tints, similar to a turkey. It has a powerful beak, large and more massive than in other species of vultures, which allows the torgo vulture to tear off and pierce the skin and muscles of dead animals.

The common hawk is a bird of prey or raptor common throughout Eurasia, from Spain to Japan, and characterized by its bluish-gray color with orange stripes dorsally. Although it is small in size, it is a great hunter.

Without a doubt, it is one of the best known birds of prey or raptors . It can be found all over the planet and its adults have a blue-gray back with a black head. It is the fastest bird in the world , reaching over 300 km per hour. The female peregrine falcon are larger than the male and a species that feeds on reptiles, small mammals and insects.

It is a bird only 25 cm long and inhabits African and European regions. The European owl is characterized by its yellow eyes, its pair of rounded wings, like the rest of its body with brown plumage and white spots.

This bird lives on the five continents, mainly in rural areas, meadows with medium vegetation and fields. It is a medium nocturnal bird of prey . The shape of the Barn Owl’s face allows it great hearing acuity.

Medium – sized bird of prey with a greyish brown head and russet colored wings with black spots. The common kestrel inhabits much of Europe, Asia and Africa, where it prefers small thickets and open fields.

It is a bird that can resemble a hawk or a hawk, but is more related to eagles . The common goshawk can reach between 100 and 150 cm in length and has a plumage of blackish or brown tones and a white belly with darker bands. It has short wings to move through mountainous areas and dense forests of Eurasia and America.

It is a large black bird with white feathers on its neck and wings. It lacks feathers on its head, which are normally red and can vary in color depending on its emotional state. It lives in South America, especially in the Andes Mountains.

Here we tell you everything about why the condor is in danger of extinction .

The buzzard is a medium-sized bird of prey from Central Europe. It has a compact appearance and plumage between dark brown and white tones. This raptor inhabits Central European meadows, heaths and fields.

It is a vulture with certain differences from other raptors. Its name comes from its habit of lifting bones and shells and throwing them against rocks to break them and feed on them. It is in danger of extinction in Europe, where it can be seen in the Cantabrian Mountains, the Pyrenees and the Alps. It is also found in North Africa, South Africa, and Greece.

The osprey is a medium-sized raptor that lives on all continents except Antarctica, although in South America it is a non-nesting migratory bird. Here you can learn more about migratory birds and other migrating animal species .

Here are the names of raptors from around the world :

• Eastern imperial eagle ( Aquila heliaca )
• Iberian imperial eagle ( Aquila adalberti )
• Snowy Owl ( Bubo scandiacus )
• Secretary ( Sagittarius serpentarius )
• Eleonora’s Falcon ( Falco eleonorae )
• Vociferous seabird ( Haliaeetus vocifer )
• Maori Falcon ( Falco novaeseelandiae )
• Bonelli’s Eagle ( Aquila fasciata )
• Great horned owl ( Lophostrix cristata )
• Mexican hawk or pale hawk ( Falco mexicanus )
• Blewitt’s owl ( Athene blewitti / H eteroglaux blewitti )
• European alcotán ( Falco subbuteo )
• Royal Condor ( Sarcoramphus papa )
• Spotted owl ( Strix occidentalis )
• Raptor Eagle ( Aquila rapax )
• Long-eared owl ( Asio otus )
• Costa Rican little owl ( Glaucidium costaricanum )
• Gyrfalcon or Gyrfalcon ( Falco rusticolus )
• Desert Owl ( Bubo ascalaphus )
• Kaffir Eagle ( Aquila verreauxii )
• Merlin ( Falco columbarius )
• Long-eared owl ( Asio or Pseudoscops clamator )
• Burrowing Owl ( Athene cunicularia )
• White-eyed Kestrel ( Falco rupicoloides )
• Eastern Alcotán ( Falco severus )
• Guatemalan scops owl ( Megascops guatemalae )
• Saker Falcon ( Falco cherrug )
• Red-breasted hawk or large black hawk ( Falco deiroleucus )
• Jungle Owl ( Glaucidium radiatum )
• Great Horned Owl or American Eagle Owl ( Bubo virginianus )
• Tagarote hawk ( Falco pelegrinoides )
• African goshawk eagle ( Aquila spilogaster )
• Philippine owl ( Bubo philippensis )
• Hawk tawny owl ( Surnia ulula )
• Yággar hawk ( Falco jugger )
• Australian kestrel ( Falco cenchroides )
• Steppe Eagle ( Aquila nipalensis )
• Moorish owl ( Asio capensis )
• Lead hawk ( Falco femoralis )
• Aura sabanera ( Cathartes burrovianus )
• Lesser Kestrel ( Falco naumanni )
• Pearl Owl ( Glaucidium perlatum )
• Bat hawk ( Falco rufigularis )
• Daring Eagle ( Aquila audax )
• Bengal Eagle Owl ( Bubo bengalensis )
• American Red-headed Vulture ( Cathartes aura )
• Griffon vulture ( Gyps fulvus )
• Spotted Eagle ( Clanga clanga )
• Harpy Eagle or Greater Harpy ( Harpia harpyja )
• Guatemalan little owl ( Glaucidium cobanense )
• Moluccan Eagle ( Aquila gurneyi )
• Brown owl or tawny owl ( Strix virgata / Ciccaba virgata )
• Andean owl ( Glaucidium jardinii )
• Spectacled Owl (Pulstrix perspicillata )
• Alcotán turumti ( Falco chicquera )
• Chuncho ( Glaucidium nana )
• Borní hawk ( Falco biarmicus )
• Berigora hawk ( Falco berigora )
• Australian alcotán ( Falco longipennis )
• Hindu spotted eagle ( Clanga hastata )
• Milky owl or Verreaux’s owl ( Bubo lacteus )
• Taita’s Hawk ( Falco fasciinucha )
• Unicolor alcotán or opaque or slate hawk ( Falco concolor )
• Jungle Aura ( Cathartes melambrotus )
• California Condor ( Gymnogyps californianus )
• Great horned owl or nacurutu ( Bubo virginianus nacurutu )
• Slate or gray kestrel ( Falco ardosiaceus )
• Mauritian Kestrel ( Falco punctatus )
• Siguapa, ciguapa or blackish owl ( Asio stygius )
• Pomeranian Eagle ( Clanga pomarina )
• Black-backed kestrel or Dickinson’s kestrel ( Falco dickinsoni )
• Short-eared owl ( Asio flammeus )
• Madagascar Kestrel ( Falco newtoni )
• Malayan Eagle Owl ( Bubo sumatranus )
• American black vulture ( Coragyps atratus )
• Pacific Scopshot ( Megascops cooperi )
• Malagasy Kestrel ( Falco zoniventris )
• Magellanic or Great Horned Owl ( Bubo magellanicus )
• Saguaro owl or dwarf owl ( Micrathene whitneyi )
• Red-legged Kestrel ( Falco vespertinus )
• Lesser Kestrel ( Falco alopex )
• Nduk owl, Guinea owl or Fraser’s owl ( Bubo poensis )
• Vermiculated owl or ashy owl ( Bubo cinerascens )
• Cape Owl ( Bubo capensis )
• Choliba Scops ( Megascops choliba )
• Little or Alpine Owl ( Glaucidium passerinum )
• Cinnamon Owl ( Aegolius harrisii )
• Seychelles Kestrel ( Falco araeus )
• Red-breasted owl ( Glaucidium tephronotum )
• African alcotán ( Falco cuvierii )
• Striped owl ( Bubo shelleyi )
• Gnome Owl ( Glaucidium gnoma )
• Amazonian owl ( Glaucidium hardyi )
• Little Owl ( Glaucidium minutissimum )
• Long-eared owl ( Glaucidium brodiei )
• Central American Little Owl ( Glaucidium griseiceps )
• Little caburé or caburé owl ( Glaucidium brasilianum )
• Cape Owl ( Glaucidium capense )
• Rusty busardo or ferruginous hawk ( Buteo regalis )

Here you can see a photo gallery of the birds of prey, raptors or prey on this list. They are arranged in the same order as the names on this list.