WARNING! This is not a professional website! I am NOT an expert. Do NOT believe everything on this site.

Eagles
Hawks and Falcons
Kingfishers
Ospreys
Owls
Vultures

This page is about birds of prey as they relate to stories I have to tell about these birds and in some cases, stories relevant to predation on chickens and also how these birds relate to ponds (as predators). This page is not meant to be a page that provides all there is to know about these birds by an stretch of the imagination.

The following link is to the Audubon Adopt-A-Bird group that cares for injured birds of prey (eagles, hawks, owls, vultures, ospreys, etc.).

Like kingfishers and ospreys, eagles are unique for pond predators because they can get fish from above. They are not deterred by any of the methods used for herons except perhaps a net over the pond. They obtain fish by dive bombing them from above. Eagles grab fish with their talons. Luckily, eagles do not travel far from large bodies of water and do not often visit inland ponds. The most common eagles in the United States are the golden eagle and the bald eagle. Eagles are huge birds and usually will not bother with small fish but may take large koi in larger ponds. I have never seen an eagle where we live.

We have many red-tailed hawks and some red-shouldered hawks and chicken hawks (which are actually falcons). I have never seen any of our resident hawks near my ponds. Hawks eat a variety of prey and do not specialize in fish. They are more of an occasional snack.

By August 2002, I had heard of hawks taking fish and frogs from ponds. Usually hawks do not fish (except for fishing hawks not found in the continental USA). I did read about one red-tailed hawk taking fish from a large pond though. Normally, hawks are not worth worrying about with regards to a pond but they are out there and, on rare occasions, may have an impact. As with kingfishers, ospreys, and eagles, they hunt from above. Thus, aside from netting and plenty of places for fish to hide, there is not much to do to prevent attacks if they occur.

A pair of red-tailed hawks killed two of our chickens in March 2002. Also, see my chicken predators page. Each year recently, the red-tailed hawks breed on our land. The babies make a lot of noise once they fledge.

My mother told me an interesting story when I got home on 3/14/06. That morning, she was looking towards the 153 gallon pond where a half dozen wood frogs were having the time of their lives calling and spawning. Then, in a flash, a red-tailed hawk swooped a foot off the ground, grabbed a wood frog, flew up, and shredded it. I was not happy to hear that.

While not technically birds of prey, kingfishers are meat eaters and will eat pond fish and amphibians.

Kingfishers are smaller birds that may go unnoticed except for their load call which is hard to forget. I saw some kingfishers at a local reserve and saw and heard them in action. They will dive bomb into ponds from above, grabbing small fish with their beaks. Only a net can really keep them out.

Ospreys live to fish. Even more so than eagles, the smaller ospreys are adept at catching fish by diving from above and grabbing fish with their talons. As with the other dive-bombing birds, netting will keep them out. Ospreys are larger than kingfishers but smaller than eagles and the larger hawks. I have never seen an osprey in the wild.

I have never seen an owl on our property in 30 years. We suspect the following exist on our land but we never see them: screech, great horned, and barn owls.

By August 2002, I had heard of owls taking fish and frogs from ponds. Owls are nocturnal and secretive. Yet, two pond keepers have related stories to me (8/02) of owls dining at their ponds. One owl was eating fish. Another ( a barred owl) was suspected (but not proven) of dismembering frogs. As with the other birds on this page, they hunt from above. Thus, aside from netting and plenty of places for fish to hide, there is not much to do to prevent attacks if they occur.

See my June 2004 Pond Newsletter for an owl-eating-pond-fish story.

I think I heard an owl for the first time on our land one night in February, 2007. It sounded almost fake, "Who, who."

I took this photo at the National Zoo on 9/14/07:
Burrowing owl

On the left is a turkey vulture, and on the right, is a black vulture, taken 1/6/02. Here is a photo taken at the same time of three vultures: Vultures near the pond on 1/6/02. On the ground are two turkey vultures. On the swing is a black vulture. The 153 gallon pond is to the left of the picture.

Shortly after we moved into our house in the late 70's, they put in the county landfill near us. We soon had hundreds of vultures living and breeding near us. On warm days, a cloud of them would fly over. Most of the landfill was closed by 2001 so now there are fewer. On this day, 1/6/02, my mother had put out a turkey carcass (actually a boned breast bought at the grocery). The vultures soon came down to pick it clean. For more information, see the February 2002 pond newsletter under interesting animal sightings.

Vultures do not hunt live prey so should not bother with anyone's ponds. They eat carrion which is dead animals. They prefer to wait for the animal to be dead about a day before eating it. Vultures are skittish and will noisily flap off if they feel threatened. Because they have no need to sneak up on prey, their feathers make a lot of noise when they fly. On the other hand, when they are gliding, there is no noise. Vultures love to glide on the air currents, looking and smelling for anything down below.

When scared, a vulture may regurgitate its stomach contents onto a would-be predator. When we were kids, my neighbor was standing under a tree with a vulture who dumped fecal matter on his head. While many of us think vultures are "yucky," they are nature's garbage collectors. Without them, there would be a lot of rotting corpses around (at least until the maggots finished them off).