Tuesday Lab Powerpoint - Hawks, Eagles, and Falcons

OVERALL DESCRIPTIONS:

Hawks

• Strong vision due to photoreceptors in the retina
• Hunt prey with unexpected dashes
• Smoother beak than falcons
• Talons on feet used to snatch and kill prey
• Shorter wings than falcons but a larger body size

Falcons

• Powerful beaks used to hunt
• Bend allows them to break preys neck
• Grab prey by beak not feet
• Easily alters direction due to thin wings
• Smaller body size and longer wings than hawk

Eagles

• Large with heavy head and beak
• Large, hooked beak used for tearing flesh off prey
• Build nests called eyries
• Common for the first hatched chick to kill its siblings

BIRDS TO KNOW:

Osprey



http://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Osprey/id/ac



http://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Osprey/id/ac



• White breat and underside
• Bright yellow eyes with brown streak across
• Nests in trees near water or on channel markers

Bald Eagle


http://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/bald_eagle/id/ac

 




















http://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/bald_eagle/id/ac




• Brown body with white head and tail
• Large, yellow hooked beak and yellow legs
• Lives near coasts, rivers, or lakes

Sharp-shinned Hawk

http://www.birds.cornell.edu/pfw/AboutBirdsandFeeding/accipiterIDtable.htm

• Small head and body
• All tail feathers are the same length
• Brown body with streaked chest
• Glowing yellow eye
• Live in deep forests

Cooper's Hawk

http://www.birds.cornell.edu/pfw/AboutBirdsandFeeding/accipiterIDtable.htm 

• VERY similar to the Sharp-shinned Hawk so study these hard!!
• Tail is rounded with white tip
• Thicker, shorter legs than Sharp-shinned Hawk
• Lives in wooded areas

Juvenile Cooper's Hawk (first picture) vs. Sharp-shinned Hawk (second picture)

//www.birds.cornell.edu/pfw/AboutBirdsandFeeding/accipiterIDtable.htm

• Heavy reddish streaks on Sharp-shinned Hawk and thinner on Cooper's Hawk

 Red-Shouldered Hawk

http://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Red-shouldered_Hawk/id/ac

• Medium to large size
• Wings and tail striped black and white
• Underparts heavily barred reddish
• Can see red shoulder when in flight
• Lives in woodlands and near water

Red-Tailed Hawk

http://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Red-tailed_Hawk/id/ac

• Large hawk with broad wings and a short wide tail
• Rich brown on back and pale brown/barred on underside
• Cinnamon red tail
• Usually found in open country

Broad-Winged Hawk

http://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Broad-winged_Hawk/id/ac

• Dark tail with thick white band in middle and thin white band near base
• Pale wings with dark trailing edge
• Dark face and barred underside
• Forest-dwelling

American Kestrel

http://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/American_Kestrel/id/id.aspx?spp=American_Kestrel&ac=ac

• Slate-blue head and wings (except for female)
• Rusty red back and tail with white underneath
• Narrow wings
• Square tail with black band near tip
• Vertical black slashes on sides of white face
• Wide habitat range from deserts to grasslands to apline meadows

Merlin

 http://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Merlin/id/ac

• Small falcon
• Back gray or brown and unmarked
• Barred underside
• Long pointed wings
• Banded tail
• Lives in open country or woodlands, often near water