What Is A Raptor?

Turkey Vulture

• Does have a sense of smell- can be used to detect gas leaks
• Has a bald red head
• Eats carrion
• More closely related to storks
• Doesn’t build a nest
• Lays 2 eggs
• Normally silent but will utter faint hisses, grunts or barks when alarmed
• Soars with wings in a shallow V pattern
• Can consume and digest pathogen contaminated meat without suffering harm
• Valuable asset to humans and other animals
• Can carry small amounts of food in beak for short distances
• Excrete on legs to cool itself- thermo-regulation
• Live in open country
• Have very sharp beaks for tearing food
• Will regurgitate as a defense mechanism

Great Horned Owl

• Large ear tufts
• Largest of tufted owls in the southeast
• Found throughout North and South America
• Generalists- live anywhere and eat anything
• Don’t build nests- use old nests of hawks, herons, eagles and crows
• Nocturnal counterpart of Red-tailed hawk
• No sense of smell- will eat skunks
• Very large eyes- largest in North America
• Feet are feathered all the way to talons
• Eat prey whole
• Raises one family per year
• Life span: up to 20 years in captivity
• Will hunt at dusk, dawn and on cloudy days
• Do not migrate
• Solitary

Eastern Screech-Owl

• It is not a baby Great Horned Owl
• Grows to be about 8 inches tall and weighs as much as a ¼ pound hamburger
• Very aggressive
• Smallest tufted owl in North America, smallest owl in Southeast
• Has a red and gray phase (or morph)
• Nests in tree cavities and man-made nest boxes
• Makes excellent use of camouflage against dead trees
• Will live in and around cities
• Have probably heard its call in jungle movies
• 10.  Lifespan: up to 13 years in captivity
• 11.  Become active at night after most other owls have returned to roost
• 12.  Very territorial- will take on Chevy trucks that come into its range
• 13.  Preys on rodents, birds, insects and reptiles
• 14.  Female lays 3-4 eggs per clutch
• 15.  Prefers woodlands near open clearings of pastures or fields

Barn Owl

• Have completely silent flight
• Eat more mice in one night than 10 house cats combined (called a great mouser)- eat mostly voles, mice, and shrews
• Middle toe’s talon is serrated
• Can hunt in total darkness
• Called ghost owl b/c of bioluminescent bacteria in old barns
• Found on every continent except Antarctica
• Long legs that are sparsely feathered
• Can tell females and males apart b/c of coloring- males almost completely white
• Cavity nesters
• 10.  Don’t make nests but pellets are used at base of nest cavity to create a depression for laying eggs
• 11.  Strong nest site fidelity
• 12.  Will breed more than once a year
• 13.  Can lay up to 11 eggs
• 14.  Don’t hoot
• 15.  Life expectancy 2-4 in wild, high mortality first year

Black Vulture

• Very social- live in colonies up to 100 birds
• Spend most of their time on the ground
• Have a bald head and legs
• Feet don’t grasp prey or have long talons
• Tend to follow Turkey Vultures to food and then steal it from them
• Vultures are not the same as buzzards
• Eat carrion
• Have white wing tips
• Vultures are more closely related to storks
• Prefer open spaces
• Raises one brood per season
• Lays eggs in an available hollow such as a tree stump
• Lay 1-3 eggs
• Rely on sight to find food
• 15.   Found throughout the Southeast

Barred Owl

• Has bars on chest- thus the name
• Most vocal of all owls
• Most recognizable call: “Who cooks for you, who cooks for you all?”
• Similar to Spotted owls
• Taking over Spotted owl territory
• Live mostly in riparian (wet) habitats
• Require old growth forests for nesting
• Do not migrate
• Will take to nest boxes
• Cavity nesters
• Usually have 2 eggs
• No tufts
• Expanding its range
• Preys on small mammals, birds, reptiles, amphibians, and inverts
• Nocturnal counterpart to Red-shouldered hawk