Birds of Prey: Order Falconiformes

The Falconiformes currently consists of 290 species otherwise referred to as the birds of prey.  There are other birds known as raptors, including owls, that do not fall into this group.

Classification: 

Classification of the Falconiformes is under some debate.  Some distunguish the Falcons from the other members of the group (sometimes put into the order Accipitriformes).  For the purpose of this site, we have currently included them all under one large order.  This group, therefor includes four families: 

• Falconidae (Falcons)
• Accipitridae (Buzzards, eagles, harriers, hawks,kites, Old World Vultures)
• Pandionidae (Osprey)
• Sagittariidae (Secretary Bird)