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He placed all birds of prey into a single order, Accipitres, subdividing this into four genera: Vultur (vultures), Falco (eagles, hawks, falcons, etc.), Strix (owls), and Lanius (shrikes). This approach was followed by subsequent authors such as Gmelin, Latham and Turton.
The Accipitriformes (/ æ k ˌ s ɪ p ɪ t r ɪ ˈ f ɔːr m iː z /; from Latin accipiter 'hawk' and formes 'having the form of') are an order of birds that includes most of the diurnal birds of prey, including hawks, eagles, vultures, and kites, but not falcons.
Many well-known birds such as hawks, eagles, kites, harriers and Old World vultures are included in this group. The osprey is usually placed in a separate family ( Pandionidae ), as is the secretary bird ( Sagittariidae ), and the New World vultures are also usually now regarded as a separate family or order.
Falcons can live into their midteens, with larger hawks living longer and eagles likely to see out middle-aged owners. Through the captive breeding of rescued birds, the last 30 years have had a great rebirth of the sport, with a host of innovations; falconry's popularity, through lure flying displays at country houses and game fairs, has ...
As with hawks and owls, falcons exhibit sexual dimorphism, with the females typically larger than the males, thus allowing a wider range of prey species. [10] As is the case with many birds of prey, falcons have exceptional powers of vision; the visual acuity of one species has been measured at 2.6 times that of human eyes. [11]
The fish eagles, booted eagles, and harpy eagles have traditionally been placed in the subfamily Buteoninae together with the buzzard-hawks (buteonine hawks) and harriers. Some authors may treat these groups as tribes of the Buteoninae; Lerner & Mindell [ 26 ] proposed separating the eagle groups into their own subfamilies of Accipitridae .
The eastern imperial eagle is typically smaller, being more slender and less bulky and powerful in appearance despite its proportionately larger head and longer neck, than the golden eagle (Aquila chrysaetos). In some parts of the range, the female imperial eagle probably averages similar size and body mass to the smaller male golden eagle.
Both nests and (less frequently) adults are predated by larger-bodied raptorial birds like eagles, large owls, or gyrfalcons. The most serious predators of peregrine nests in North America and Europe are the great horned owl and the Eurasian eagle-owl. When reintroductions have been attempted for peregrines, the most serious impediments were ...