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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.
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.
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.
However, at least two species have successfully been used, the Eurasian eagle-owl and the great horned owl. [10] Successful training of owls is much different from the training of hawks and falcons, as they are hearing- rather than sight-oriented. (Owls can only see black and white, and are long-sighted.)
Accipitrid prey size ranges by body mass ranges from 237 g (8.4 oz) for a sparrowhawk to 3.13 kg (6.9 lb) in the imperial eagle and that of non-accipitrid raptors ranges from 58.5 g (2.06 oz) for the pygmy owl to 2.68 kg (5.9 lb) for the eagle owl and apparently both imperial eagles and eagle owls that were caught were adults.
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 .
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]
Pellets are found in different locations, depending on the species. In general, these are roosting and nesting sites: for most hawks and owls, under coniferous trees; for barn owls, at the bases of cliffs or in barns and silos; for yet other species of owls, at their burrows or in marsh and field grasses. [1] Pellet of a common kingfisher