Aves › Accipitriformes › Accipitridae
Eurasian sparrowhawk
Up to 25% larger
A female can be up to a quarter bigger than the male, one of the widest size gaps of any bird.
Field Guide · Chapter 9 of 29
Hawks, owls and parrots
Swipe across, tap a card to turn it over, then scroll down its back. Try Look closer on a front, spin a globe, and lift the question on a park sign.
Aves › Accipitriformes › Accipitridae
Red-tailed hawk
Up to 65 cm long
Pairs stay together for life, and a hawk takes a new mate only when its first one dies.
Aves › Accipitriformes › Accipitridae
Common buzzard
At least 700,000 pairs
Almost certainly the most numerous daytime bird of prey in Europe.
Aves › Accipitriformes › Pandionidae
Osprey
Wingspan up to 180 cm
It hunts by hovering, then plunging feet first into the water for fish.
Aves › Accipitriformes › Accipitridae
Red kite
Wingspan 175 to 195 cm
About 1% of Welsh hatchlings are a rare white form, and that whiteness is a disadvantage.
Aves › Accipitriformes › Accipitridae
Harpy eagle
Talons up to 12.5 cm
It has the largest talons of any living eagle.
Aves › Accipitriformes › Accipitridae
Steller's sea eagle
Up to 2.50 m wingspan
It is typically the heaviest eagle in the world.
Aves › Accipitriformes › Sagittariidae
Secretarybird
About 1.3 m tall
Unlike most birds of prey, it is largely terrestrial and hunts on foot.
Aves › Accipitriformes › Accipitridae
Griffon vulture
2.3 to 2.8 m wingspan
Germany lost this vulture in the mid-18th century.
Aves › Accipitriformes › Cathartidae
Turkey vulture
A banded one: 16 years
It has no real voice: its only calls are grunts and low hisses.
Aves › Falconiformes › Falconidae
Common kestrel
Hovers 10–20 m up
The kestrel hangs in mid-air, searching the ground below for prey.
Aves › Strigiformes › Strigidae
Eurasian eagle-owl
Females to 75 cm long
One of the largest owl species there is.
Aves › Strigiformes › Strigidae
Great horned owl
Almost 29 years
It eats more kinds of prey than any other raptor in the Americas.
Aves › Strigiformes › Strigidae
Great grey owl
61 to 84 cm long
It has the largest facial disc of any raptor, and no ear tufts at all.
Aves › Strigiformes › Strigidae
Burrowing owl
19 to 25 cm tall
When threatened it retreats into its burrow and makes rattling and hissing sounds like a rattlesnake.
Aves › Psittaciformes › Psittacidae
Sulphur-crested cockatoo
70+ in captivity
In Sydney they learned to open garbage bins, and the trick spreads by imitation.
Aves › Psittaciformes › Psittacidae
Budgerigar
Over 5 million years
Budgerigars have survived harsh inland conditions in Australia for over five million years.
Aves › Psittaciformes › Psittacidae
Rainbow lorikeet
25 to 30 cm, with tail
Males and females look identical, so sex is found by surgery or by DNA from a feather.
Aves › Psittaciformes › Psittacidae
Kakapo
Up to 64 cm long
The world's heaviest parrot is also the only one that cannot fly.
Aves › Psittaciformes › Psittacidae
Kea
About 48 cm long
One of the few parrots that regularly spends time above the tree line.
Aves › Galliformes › Phasianidae
Wild turkey
Record male: 17.06 kg
Its weight puts it near the top of all flying birds on Earth.
Aves › Galliformes › Phasianidae
Common pheasant
50 million each summer
In the UK, about 50 million captive pheasants are released each summer.
Aves › Casuariiformes › Dromaiidae
Emu
Up to 1.9 m tall
Emus are the only bird with calf muscles, which makes them good at sprinting.
Aves › Casuariiformes › Casuariidae
Southern cassowary
Females reach 170 cm
Startled, it can barrel through forest at a pace near 50 kilometers an hour.
Aves › Coraciiformes › Alcedinidae
Common kingfisher
Eats around 60% daily
Daily food makes up around 60% of its weight, so it defends a stretch of river.
Aves › Bucerotiformes › Bucerotidae
Great hornbill
95 to 130 cm long
The mother stays shut in until the chicks are half developed, with her mate bringing her food.
1 of 26
On this page
- Eurasian sparrowhawk
- Red-tailed hawk
- Common buzzard
- Osprey
- Red kite
- Harpy eagle
- Steller's sea eagle
- Secretarybird
- Griffon vulture
- Turkey vulture
- Common kestrel
- Eurasian eagle-owl
- Great horned owl
- Great grey owl
- Burrowing owl
- Sulphur-crested cockatoo
- Budgerigar
- Rainbow lorikeet
- Kakapo
- Kea
- Wild turkey
- Common pheasant
- Emu
- Southern cassowary
- Common kingfisher
- Great hornbill
What is real here
Every photograph and every outline comes from a real, openly licensed image, credited at the bottom of its card. Only plain charts are drawn.
The words on these cards are written by AI from the sources named on each card. Software matched every number and claim to a sentence in those sources. Mistakes are still possible, so follow a card's links before relying on it.
Globe dots are real recorded sightings from GBIF. Where a card says native range only, they are clipped to that range. Otherwise they can include zoos, gardens and places the species was introduced.