Soar to New Heights: Discover the Thrill of Raptor Photography

^{Note: This tip comes from page 3 in Tobie Schalkwyk’s free eBook - Bird Photography: Birds of Prey}

Birds of prey are the pinnacle of nature wildlife photography. Nothing beats the self-satisfaction of looking back at a good shot of a bird of prey and then thinking to yourself, ‘Yes, I captured it!’

Let’s define ‘birds of prey’ as birds that hunt and eat vertebrates. Some of these vertebrates may be quite large in relation to the size of the bird. According to this definition, vultures may appear to be not 100% at home, but in general, they are counted among them.

For this bird quick tip, we will have a close look at ten different birds of prey so that we can identify them. This is the first step in nurturing your skill as a photographer of raptors.

This is not an all-inclusive list of the species but provides you some general background.

Eagles: This bird of prey has massive wings and large, strong talons, which it uses to kill prey.Eagles: This bird of prey has massive wings and large, strong talons, which it uses to kill prey.

Ospreys: This bird hunts fish almost exclusively and can be found around bodies of water.

Kites: Kites have long wings and relatively weak legs.

True Hawks: Hawks are woodland birds that hunt from a perch.

Buzzards: Buzzards are medium to extremely large raptors with strong bodies.

Harriers: The harrier is a hawk-like bird with a long tail and thin legs.

Vultures: Vultures are carrion eaters. They usually have heads, and sometimes necks, that are void of feathers.

Falcons: Falcons are medium sized with long, pointed wings.

Caracaras: This beautiful raptor has broad wings and a naked face devoid of feathers.

Owls: Owls are the only raptor that hunts at night. 

To put it mildly, the ‘bird of prey’ kingdom is vast. It includes all live vertebrate hunters, thus implicitly locking out other meat eaters like crows.

According to this definition, vultures may not appear 100% at home with the raptor category, but they are generally counted among them.

Each group of raptors has specific traits that determine how and where they can be photographed. Consequently, it is to a raptor photographer’s advantage to know these traits.

Want more? If you want to learn more about bird photography, and capture beautiful shots of your own, we recommend downloading and printing out Photzy’s 10 Bird Photography Cheat Sheets (Special bonus available now!)