today · all-time

Today's Popular Photos


 Lucky you! It's a new day - go vote for your favorite photos!

Gallery pages:   1  2  3  >

Recent Galleries

American Bald Eagle :

American Bald Eagle

ImagesOfWildLife

Updated: Aug 18, 2008 6:45pm PST

Raptors : Birds of prey.

Raptors

Dan Scherber

Birds of prey.

Updated: Jun 21, 2008 7:52am PST

Raptors :

Raptors

Ireland-Photo

Updated: Mar 26, 2008 10:11pm PST

Osprey Taking Flight - Mahon Beach, Delaware :

Osprey Taking Flight - Mahon Beach, D...

ImagesOfWildLife

Updated: Feb 22, 2008 7:29pm PST

Barn Owl : From Wikipedia: The Barn Owl is a pale, long-winged, long-legged owl, a with squarish tail. Tail shape is a way of distinguishing the Barn Owl from owls of the strigidae family. 33–39 cm in length with an 80–95 cm wingspan. Its head and upperparts are buff, and the underparts are white. The face is heart shaped. In the US it is incorrectly sometimes called Screech Owl because the Barn Owl has a notable shreee scream, ear-shattering at close range. It can hiss like a snake, and when captured or cornered, it throws itself on its back and flails with sharp-taloned feet, an effective defence. Contrary to popular belief, it does not make the call "tu-whit to-whoo" (which is made by the Tawny Owl). It is a bird of open country, such as farmland, preferring to hunt along the edges of woods. The Barn Owl feeds primarily on small vertebrates, particularly rodents, but also birds and reptiles. It also sometimes eats insects. Studies have shown that an individual Barn Owl may eat one or more rodents per night; a nesting pair and their young can eat more than 1000 rodents per year. It has an effortless wavering flight as it quarters pastures or similar hunting grounds. Alternative names often refer to the appearance, white underparts, or eerie, silent flight, including Monkey-faced Owl, Ghost Owl, Church Owl, Golden Owl, Rat Owl and Stone Owl. Like most owls, the Barn Owl flies silently; tiny serrations on the leading edges of its flight feathers help to break up the flow of air over its wings, thereby reducing turbulence—and the noise that accompanies it. They hunt by flying low and slowly over an area of open ground, hovering over spots that conceal potential prey.

Barn Owl

ImagesOfWildLife

From Wikipedia: The Barn Owl is a pale, long-winged, long-legged owl, ...

Updated: Feb 22, 2008 7:10pm PST

American Kestrel (male) : From Wikipedia: The American Kestrel (Falco sparverius) is the smallest falcon in North America - about the size of an American Robin. This bird was (and sometimes still is) colloquially known in North America as the "Sparrow Hawk". This name is misleading because it implied a connection with the Eurasian Sparrowhawk Accipiter nisus, which is unrelated - the latter is a accipiter hawk rather than a falcon; moreover, falcons and accipiters are only very distantly related among the diurnal raptors. American Kestrels are widely distributed across the Americas. Their breeding range extends from central and western Alaska across northern Canada to Nova Scotia, and south throughout North America, into central Mexico, the Baja, and the Caribbean. They are local breeders in Central America and are widely distributed throughout South America. Most of the birds breeding in Canada and the northern United States migrate south in the winter, although some males stay as year-round residents. It is a very rare vagrant to western Europe.

American Kestrel (male)

ImagesOfWildLife

From Wikipedia: The American Kestrel (Falco sparverius) is the smalles ...

Updated: Feb 22, 2008 7:08pm PST

Red-tailed hawk : From Wikipedia: The Red-tailed Hawk (Buteo jamaicensis) is a medium-sized bird of prey, one of three species colloquially known in the United States as the "chickenhawk." It breeds almost throughout North America from western Alaska and northern Canada to as far south as Panama and the West Indies. It is one of the largest members of the genus Buteo in North America, weighing from 1.5 to 4.4 pounds and measuring 18 to 26 inches in length, with a wingspan from 43 to 57 inches. The Red-tailed Hawk displays sexual dimorphism in size, as females are 25% larger than males. Red-tailed Hawk plumage can be variable, depending on the subspecies. These color variations are called morphs, and a Red-tailed Hawk may be light, dark, or rufous. The Red-tailed Hawk is successful in large part because it tolerates a wide range of habitats and altitudes, including deserts, grasslands, coniferous and deciduous forests, tropical rainforests, agricultural fields and urban areas. It is legally protected in Canada, Mexico and the U.S. by the Migratory Bird Treaty Act of 1918. It is carnivorous, and an opportunistic feeder. Its diet is mainly composed of small mammals, but it also includes birds and reptiles. The Red-tailed Hawk is a popular bird in falconry. Approximately 60% of all raptors under 1 year of age taken from the wild for use in American falconry are Red-tailed Hawks. The Red-tailed Hawk also has significance in Native American culture. Its feathers are considered sacred by some tribes, and are used in religious ceremonies.

Red-tailed hawk

ImagesOfWildLife

From Wikipedia: The Red-tailed Hawk (Buteo jamaicensis) is a medium-s ...

Updated: Feb 21, 2008 1:05pm PST

Gyr Falcon : From Wikipedia: The Gyrfalcon (Falco rusticolus), also spelled Gyr Falcon, sometimes Gerfalcon, is the largest of all falcon species. The Gyrfalcon breeds on Arctic coasts and islands of North America, Europe and Asia. The "g" is pronounced like the "j" in "jar". The Gyrfalcon is a bird of tundra and mountains, with cliffs or a few patches of trees. It feeds only on birds and mammals. Like other hierofalcons, it usually hunts in a horizontal pursuit, rather than the Peregrine's speedy stoop from a height. Most prey is killed on the ground, whether they are captured there or, if the victim is a flying bird, forced to the ground. The diet is to some extent opportunistic, but a majority of breeding birds mostly rely on Lagopus grouse. Avian prey can range in size from redpolls to geese and can include gulls, corvids, smaller passerines, waders and other raptors (up to the size of Buteos). Mammalian prey can range in size from shrews to marmots (sometimes 3 times heavier than the assaulting falcon), and often includes include lemmings, voles, ground squirrels and hares. They only rarely eat carrion. The Gyrfalcon is Iceland's staðfugl (national bird), as well as the official bird of Canada's Northwest Territories. In medieval times, the Gyrfalcon was considered the king's bird. Due to its rarity and the difficulties involved in obtaining it, in falconry the gyrfalcon was generally reserved for kings and nobles.

Gyr Falcon

ImagesOfWildLife

From Wikipedia: The Gyrfalcon (Falco rusticolus), also spelled Gyr Fal ...

Updated: Feb 21, 2008 1:02pm PST

Saw-whet Owl : From Wikipedia: The Saw-whet Owl (Aegolius acadicus) is a small owl. Adults are 18cm long with a 43 cm wingspan. They have a large round light grey face with brown streaks, a dark bill and yellow eyes. The underparts are pale with dark streaks; the upper parts are brown with white spots. Their breeding habitat is coniferous forests, sometimes mixed or deciduous woods, across North America. They nest in a tree cavity, usually one created by a woodpecker. They will sometimes use nesting boxes. Some are permanent residents; others may migrate south in winter or move down from higher elevations. These birds wait on a low perch at night and swoop down on prey. They mainly eat small rodents; on the Pacific coast, they may also eat crustaceans and aquatic insects. Like many owls, these birds have excellent hearing and exceptional vision in low light. This bird was named for its call, which is said to resemble a saw being sharpened with a whetstone. It is fairly common, but not always easy to spot.

Saw-whet Owl

ImagesOfWildLife

From Wikipedia: The Saw-whet Owl (Aegolius acadicus) is a small owl. A ...

Updated: Feb 21, 2008 12:57pm PST

Long-eared Owl : From Wikipedia: The Long-eared Owl (Asio otus) is a species of owl which breeds in Europe, Asia, and North America. This species is a part of the larger grouping of owls known as typical owls, family Strigidae, which contains most species of owl. The other grouping of owls are the barn owls, family Tytonidae. The Long-eared Owl is a medium sized owl, 31-37 cm in length with an 86-98 cm wingspan. It has erect blackish ear-tufts, which are positioned in the center of the head. The female is larger in size and darker in colouration than the male. The Long-eared Owl’s brownish feathers are vertically streaked. Tarsus and toes are entirely feathered. Eye disks are also characteristic in this species. However, the eye disks of A. otus are darker in color or rusty-orange. This nocturnal species is perhaps most easily seen perched in a tree in its daytime roost. The Long-eared Owl's breeding season is from February to July. This bird is partially migratory, moving south in winter from the northern parts of its temperate range. Its habitat is forest close to open country. It nests in trees, often coniferous, using the old stick nests of other birds such as crows, ravens and magpies and various hawks. The average clutch size is 4-6 eggs, and the incubation time averages from 25-30 days. It will readily use artificial nesting baskets. An unusual characteristic of this species is its communal nesting in thickets during the winter months. The Long-eared Owl hunts over open country by night. It is very long winged, like the similar Short-eared Owl, and glides slowly on stiff wings when hunting. Its food is mainly rodents, small mammals, and birds.

Long-eared Owl

ImagesOfWildLife

From Wikipedia: The Long-eared Owl (Asio otus) is a species of owl whi ...

Updated: Feb 21, 2008 12:51pm PST

Gallery pages:   1  2  3  >

Search Raptors

Featured Galleries

Raptors :

Raptors