All species › Birds of prey
Birds of prey | Accipitriformes
Roofvogels | Rapaces diurnas
Day-hunting birds of prey with a strongly hooked bill whose base is set in a patch of waxy skin, the cere, in which the nostrils open. Prey is seized with the foot and killed with the sharp curved talons; the bill comes into play only afterwards, to tear the meat apart. The eyes are large and exceptionally sharp, in most species the female is clearly larger than the male, and indigestible remains such as fur and splinters of bone are cast up again as a pellet. In Mexico and Central America the order holds two families: the hawks and eagles, taking in kites, harriers, hawks, buteos and eagles such as the Harpy Eagle, and the Osprey, which hunts fish along coasts, lagoons and rivers. Many hawks are resident here, such as Roadside Hawk and Common Black Hawk, but every autumn hundreds of thousands of Broad-winged Hawks and other raptors stream south in huge flocks along the coastal plain of Veracruz. New World vultures and falcons live in partly the same way but are placed in other orders in this classification.
Families in this order
- Ospreys | Pandionidae1 speciesA single species, spread over almost the whole world and wholly geared to catching fish. The outer toe can be turned backwards so that the prey is clamped between two toes in front and two behind, and the underside of the toes is covered in spiny scales that hold the slippery body; the talons are equal in length and strongly curved, the nostrils can be closed, and the dense oily plumage sheds water. The wings are long and kinked at the wrist, which allows the bird to hover: it drops feet first into the water, works its way out again, and carries the fish head forward, aligned with the body. The nest is a great heap of sticks on top of a tree, mast or crag, added to year after year.
- Kites, Old World vultures, eagles and hawks | Accipitridae46 speciesAll members share the same equipment: a hooked bill without the tooth falcons carry in the cutting edge, a powerful four-toed foot with sharp talons for holding prey or carrion, and broad wings with spread primary tips for gaining height on thermals, the tail serving as a rudder. They build a stick nest or take over someone else's, and lay small clutches of one to a few eggs, incubated mainly by the female while the male brings in the food. The eggs hatch one after another, so the young differ in size; they are fed on torn-off scraps and do not fledge for weeks. After that they wear a distinct juvenile plumage for one or more years, which makes putting a name to a bird harder in this family than in most other groups.