INTRODUCTION

Birds of prey are "top predators" like lions and tigers. Except vultures who feed on dead bodies, they hunt and kill other creatures for food. They are also called raptors, from the Latin word "raptare" which means " to seize", as they seize their prey with their feet.

Birds of prey are very primitive and geological history reveals that they were present in the Eocene period. In London, a fossil of the primitive bird Lithornis has been recorded to be sixty hundred thousand years old. This animal was considered to be a member of the vulture family.

BIRDS OF PREY IN HISTORY AND MYTHOLOGY

Birds of prey have always held a magical fascination for human beings. They were important symbols in many ancient cultures and religions all over the world. The Eagle for instance, is seen as the King Bird, representing authority, strength, victory, pride and is linked with the sun, royalty and the gods. The Bald Eagle and Golden Eagle have long been objects of worship to North American Indians, and are still important in many of their ceremonies. Their feathers have often been collected and used in many decorative ways, mostly on headdresses. In Greek mythology, Zeus, god of the sky and weather had an Eagle, which was the only bird believed to live on Mount Olympus. Such beliefs are clearly based on observations as well as imagination. Harpy Eagle's feathers were used in decorative head and armbands. The Amazon tribe, Amahuaca of Peru, are reported to wipe broth from boiled raptors talons on their bodies before hunting large animals. Some Eagles feed on prey much bigger than their own size. This is where myths about Eagles carrying off calves, sheep and even human-babies have come from. But up till now there is no verified record of an Eagle killing a child

The diety Horus with a head of a peregrine Falcon, was perhaps the most influential of the many early Egyptian falcon gods.A Papyrus, from about 1250 B.C. shows Horus leading Ani of Thebes.

Many ancient Egyptian gods and goddesses were linked with animals such as the Falcon-headed god Horus, meaning "the lofty one". The eye of Horus was believed to have protective properties and was a popular amulet. Falcons were buried in predynastic tombs and were worshiped in temples. Thousand of years ago when the Pharaoh ruled Egypt, the Griffon Vultures and Lappet faced Vultures represented the goddess Nekhebet, goddess of child birth. From history we know that cruel kings were known to have built wells far from their cities, where they would leave criminals. Then when the criminals died of starvation, theVultures banqueted on the dead bodies.

A black-figure pottery cup from the sixth century B.C., depicts Zeus, god of the sky and weather and the eagle believed to live on Mt. Olympus.

TYPES OF RAPTORS

The birds of prey have been categorised in various types such as under:

HABITAT

These birds are found in all habitats like desert and semi-desert areas, open steppe, plains, forests, arid-zones, mountains, coastal-areas, marshes, rivers and lakes. They are also found around human hutment, in big cities like Karachi, Hyderabad, Lahore, Quetta, Peshawar etc. and in towns and villages.

DISTRIBUTION

Birds of prey are found throughout the world except in Antarctica. There are 290 species and subspecies present in the world. Out of them 52 exist within the geographical limits of Pakistan.

STRUCTURE OF A RAPTOR'S BODY

The size and shape of its wings, beaks and feet determine how a bird flies and what its preferred food is. According to these characteristics one can deduce how the raptors survive. Every feature of a bird's body is governed by the need to survive in a particular environment.

BEAK

Since all birds of prey are flesh eaters in one way or another, therefore, they have powerful hooked and down-curved bills. The upper mandible overlaps the lower and is somewhat compressed. Some species of raptors such as Falcon have a sharp notch called festoon in their upper mandibles, which enable them to inflict fatal injury upon their prey. A few birds of prey have two such teeth. In all raptors the base of the upper bill is covered with a leathery cere which is usually coloured yellow or grey and is sensitive, in function.

Raptors' beaks (1) Griffon Vulture (2) Honey Buzzard (3) Golden Eagle (4) Peregrine Falcon (5) Pallid Harrier (6) Goshawk

WINGS

The wings of the birds of prey differ from one group to another e.g. a Falcon has narrow crescent pointed wings to give speed so that it may catch or kill other birds in air. In other groups, such as Sparrow Hawk and Goshawk the wings are short, broad and rounded so that they may be able to catch their prey on trees, whereas, Eagles and Vultures have long and wide wings that enable them to soar for a considerable distance often 200 miles or so in a day. Some of the Vultures such as Lammergeier ( Gypaetus bar batus ), Andean Condor ( Vultur gryphus ) and California Condor ( Gymnogyps californianus ) have a wing span of 9-10 ft.

Raptors' wings (1) Common Buzzard (2) Hen Harrier (3) Saker Falcon (4) Shikra (5) Black Vulture

FEET

Though all birds of prey have strong and powerful feet with an opposable hind toe and three long claws pointed forward, certain variations exist. For example, an Osprey has a reversible hind toe accompanied with horny pads or spines on their undersides to secure a firm hold on the slippery prey (a fish) an adaptation found in all fish eating birds. Raptors that feed exclusively on live animals by catching them in air or pouncing upon them on ground have strongly hooked talons. Carrion eating raptors such as Vultures have fairly short blunt talons.

Raptors' feet (1) Honey Buzzard (2) Goshawk (3) Golden Eagle (4) White-tailed Eagle (5) Peregrine Falcon (6)Osprey (7) Lammergeier Vulture

SIZE

Birds of prey vary remarkably in their sizes ranging from Pygmy Falconet weighing about 45 grams to Andean Condor ( Vultur gryphus ) and California Condor ( Gymnogyps californianus ) weighing 18-25 pounds and measuring 40-46 inches in length.

SIGHT AND HEARING

Raptors have very powerful eyesight. For example, a Falcon can see a dove from a distance of almost 1000 meters, where as a Griffon Vulture can distinguish an object the size of an apple from a height of 3650 meters.Contrary to what is generally thought, birds of prey also have considerably developed sense of hearing. Hawks and their allies hear extremely well and Harriers are even better collectors of sound.

FOOD

Birds of prey feed on a variety of animals. For example, a Black Kite will pick up anything from debris, which can serve as its food. A Short-toed Eagle and Black-shouldered Kite prefer to feed on small mammals and reptiles. Tawny Eagle and Golden Eagle prefer other birds, sick and disabled poultry and mammals while all Vultures except the Lammergeier feed on carcasses. Lammergeier feed exclusively on bone marrow.

SIZE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN THE SEXES One of the most interesting features of raptors is the marked difference in sizes between the sexes. In some species of the genus Accipiters, majority of the females are double the size of males and weigh twice as much.Vultures that feed exclusively on carcasses show no consistent size differences between the sexes. In secretary birds the female is slightly smaller than the male.

Size Difference

BREEDING AND COURTSHIP DISPLAY Birds of prey are not gregarious in habit. They live in isolation, forming pairs only during breeding period and perform a number of differenet types of sexual displays on the onset of the breeding season. These include perching and calling, undulating, paired soaring, foot touching and cart wheeling. Of these the most spectacular is the foot touching display performed by members of Milvus genus . Undulations i.e. Birds glide, then rise with a few wings flaps and repeat their display. NESTS Birds of prey build their nests anywhere or simply occupy the nests of other birds. Goshawks, Sparrow Hawks or Buzzards build their nests on trees while Kestrels prefer tree hollows Tawny Eagles, Brahminy Kites and Harriers seek the shelter of reef thickets in the middle of swamps. Quite a large number of raptorial birds build their nests on the ground in steppe or desert countries. Others such as eagles and

Cart Wheel Display

vultures nest on rock ledges in mountains, whereas most Falcons (Laggar Falcons) prefer inaccessible mountain cliffs or tall electricity pylons. Some raptors habitually occupy the nests of other birds e.g. Falcon and closely related genera. The nests are made of sticks or any other suitable material.

EGGS

Birds of prey are slow breeders and lay small clutches of eggs . Many of the larger species lay only one to two eggs, where as smaller species lay between 3-5 eggs per clutch.

INCUBATION PERIOD

Incubation periods are usually long , especially with larger species( eagles and vultures), ranging from 45 to 50 days. The shortest incubation period is about 22-23 days, as is the case with Red footed Falcon.

LONGEVITY (AGE)

It is clear from records of raptors living in captivity that larger species have a long life span. For example, Large Eagles and Vultures survive between 30 to 40 or even upto 50 years. Golden Eagles have survived between 41 to 48 years. The age of Andean Condors varies from 41 to 51 years and Sea Eagles have survived upto the age of 42 . Marsh Harriers, Buzzards and Ospreys are not nearly as long lived, living upto 17,18 and 19 years respectively; while Peregrine, smaller Harriers and Hobbies have an average age of about 10 years.

ECONOMIC IMPORTANCE OF BIRDS OF PREY

The following points give a clear picture about the economic importance of birds of prey:

Natural Scavengers

Though vultures are rather sinister looking creatures, they pose no threat to human beings. In fact, they are beneficial to us as scavengers, eating dead bodies, which would otherwise putrefy and spread many diseases. They feed exclsuively on carrion and in this sense are unique.

Birds like kites and some eagles also perform a similar function by feeding on carrion. Other raptors are also useful to human beings as they feed on reptiles, rodents, locusts and many other agricultural pests and therefore save us from a lot of diseases. Those birds of prey which feed on game birds, kill mostly the sick and weak. In the wild, they do little damage to game birds and may even be beneficial.

Falconry

Falconry was first practiced in central Asia about four thousand years ago. It has been popular for many centuries in China, India, the Middle East and Europe. It is asserted that Falconry is the major cause of extinction of the Houbara Bustard from Middle East. The Falconers use Goshawks and Indian Shikras for hunting quails, partridges, ducks, herons, young peafowls etc. The Arab Falconers use Falcons to hunt the Houbara Bustard in Pakistan. Saker Falcons are trapped for this purpose.The trappers use other birds of prey such as Laggars, Kestrels and Merlins to lure them. A ball of feathers is tied to the talons of the smaller birds, which are then released in the Saker Falcons territory. As the latter swoops down to recover the `prey', its claws become entangled in the feathers and both birds fall to the ground.

Many countries such as Saudia Arabia, Iran, Afghanistan, Korea, China, Japan, etc. pay large amounts for Falcons, Goshawks and Shikras, because these birds are easily domesticated and trained for hunting and sport. Falcon trapping has become a profession in many countries and more than 100 hunting parties are engaged in this business in Pakistan. Most of the parties obtain trapping licenses for a fixed number of Falcons but agreements like these are rarely honoured. The trapped Falcons are either exported illegally or sold at very high prices in the local markets.

DISADVANTAGE OF BIRDS OF PREY

Certain birds of prey are hazardous to aircrafts. These birds include Indian white-backed Vultures, Egyptian Vultures, Himalayan Griffon Vultures, Long-billed Vultures, Marsh Harriers, Crested honey Buzzards, Pariah Kites and white-eyed Buzzards. These are soaring birds and they fly high in the sky in search of food. Once they spot their food, they begin circling over it. During this time it is not uncommom for them to crash into aeroplanes that are landing or taking off. Such accidents can prove to be fatal .The chances of such an occurence taking place is higher with Black Shouldered Kite as it soars constantly at one point in persuit of its prey.

Problem of bird strike hazard to aviation