1. Caracaras. There are 10 species. Because they are the smartest birds of prey. You know how smart these raptors are? They are as curious as a raven or a parrot! For example wild striated caracaras will FLY TO YOU, they aren't scared of humans! And they will try to steal your stuff like keys, shoes, pens, toilet paper etc..They can solve loads of problems! They are social. They can socially learn! They have been seen hunting in pairs! They love to play. They can count to 8! (Like parrots) They are very diffrent from other falcons, like the secretary bird caracaras prefer to walk. They are really awesome raptors, and not very well studied there was like 1 study done on the red throated caracara.
2. Common buzzard (Buteo buteo). There is a few reasons. They are very common here in Poland (one of the most common raptors). I really love the fact that no common buzzard looks the same! Some are more white, others are more dark, they have diffrent patterns.
And I love them because I got a chance to observe common buzzard chicks! They were like very cute, unaware of any dangers (sleeping on the ground). Even when they left the nest, they stayed in the area and the siblings were hanging out together. The siblings were laying next to each other and that was very cute. I even observed play behavior. And these buzzard siblings were flying over my head like 10 meters above me. I observed a lot of interesting behaviors. And I made a lot of good photos of them!
3. Golden eagles. Because they are very strong raptors. They can brake bones with their powerful talons!
A golden eagle have been seen to kill a female sika deer weighing 20-30 kgs! For comparison a harpy eagle kills something in the wild that weighs 10 kg. And golden eagles kill sometimes harder prey like foxes or coyotes, cats or even bobcats, mountain goats, ye and deer, and there was an observation of an golden eagle taking a baby bear. And ofcourse mongolians use them to hunt wolves.
Also I have read the book "Gifts of an eagle" and it really amazed me! Lady had a big personality, and was a very good mother, and very intelligent, and was strongly bonded with a human.
4. Martial eagles. Because they are very cool they hunt baby LIONS, and other cats like servals, also they hunt antelopes, lizards and jackals, strong birds. They are the biggest eagles in Africa.
5. Philippine eagle. Because they are very beautiful. Amazing eyes, amazing crest, their colours. And they are the APEX predators in the Philippines!
Favourite extinct bird of prey:
Terror birds (
Phorusrhacids). Because they were like 3 meter tall birds! With heads the size of a horse! And sharp claws. They were the top predators of their time (until they moved to North America)! I will say that they were the most predatory birds of all time. They hunted mammals like primitive horses.
The reason of their extinction is not really known, some say climate change and others say it was competition.
I think thats all. Yes. I am a big raptor lover.
Here in London I spend a lot of time in summer watching Eurasian hobbies (kobuz - Latin name Falco subbuteo) which can probably be seen all over Poland, even in cities. Anywhere with lots of dragonflies or swallows, swifts, martins is great. Their speed and agility is incredible. I've seen northern goshawks (jastrząb - Accipiter gentilis) very well in Berlin, in both big city parks and churchyards, and from media reports (links here and here) it seems they might be in Warsaw and other cities, where ironically they may be safer than in the countryside. The adults especially are most impressive birds. Do you see them regularly in your area?
