Whooooo Will You Meet At The Cascades Raptor Center?

With over 30 species of Oregonian raptors, there's a lot to learn at the CRC! Check out our residents and some fun facts about each species below.

What is a Raptor?

"Raptor" is another word for bird of prey: eagles, hawks, falcons, owls, osprey and kites ... hunting birds with keen eyesight and hearing, strong feet with sharp talons for grasping and killing prey, and curved beaks for ripping up their food. Raptors are not the only predators of the bird world, but they are the only ones that hunt with their feet! The word 'raptor' comes from the Latin raptor (plunderer) and the French raptus (to seize and transport). The English words 'rapt,' 'rapture,' or 'enraptured' share these same roots.

Eagles

Aeolus, McKenzie, Denali & Celilo the Bald Eagles

Via eraptors.org

Bald eagles are quite the pirates! They have been known to harass a hunting osprey until they drop their prey in midair, where the eagle swoops it up. A bald eagle may even snatch a fish directly out of an osprey's talons. Fishing mammals (even people sometimes) can also lose fish to bald eagles.

Amazon and Orion the Golden Eagles

Via eraptors.org

There are over 60 different species of eagles. Golden eagles have been observed covering hunting territories of over 100 square miles – that’s a long way to travel for a meal.

Owls

Luna the Northern Spotted Owl

Via eraptors.org

An individual Spotted Owl may not breed every year. Some do not breed for periods of five to six years. Although survival of juvenile owls is low, adult survival is high, and a Spotted Owl may live to be 17 years old.

Nani, Soren, Padawan & Diana the Barn Owls

Via eraptors.org

The Barn Owl has excellent low-light vision, and can easily find prey at night by sight. But its ability to locate prey by sound alone is the best of any animal that has ever been tested. It can catch mice in complete darkness in the lab, or hidden by vegetation or snow out in the real world.

Bodhi the Barred Owl

Via eraptors.org

Barred Owls don’t migrate and tend not to move around very much. In a study of 158 birds banded and surveyed, none had moved farther than 6 miles away from their original posting.

Ravi & Opa the Western Screech Owls

Via eraptors.org

Masters of camouflage, when threatened, Western Screech Owls stretch their body and tighten their feathers in order to look like a branch stub.

Chia & Linnaeus the Burrowing Owls

Via eraptors.org

Unlike most owls in which the female is larger than the male, the sexes of the Burrowing Owl are the same size.

Lorax & Valentino the Great Horned Owls

Via eraptors.org

When clenched, a Great Horned Owl’s strong talons require a force of 28 pounds to open.

Aurora the Long-Eared Owl

Via eraptors.org

Long-eared owls are more strictly nocturnal than any other North American owl except the saw-whet. When disturbed in a day roost, the owl will raise its ear tufts, compress its feathers tightly against its body and freeze, thus resembling tree bark or a broken limb. This statue-like, "erect-eared" pose led this bird to be known at one time as the cat owl.

Tristan the Northern Saw-Whet Owl

Via eraptors.org

The Saw-Whet Owl has a short whistling sound that repeats over and over as many as 100 times in a minute.

Darwin the Northern Pygmy Owl

Via eraptors.org

The Northern Pygmy Owl is considered competition for the title "smallest owl in the world" with the Elf Owl. Despite its small stature, these little ones have been known to take down prey twice their size!

Archimedes the Snowy Owl

Via eraptors.org

Unlike most owls, Snowy Owls are diurnal (hunt during the day). They’ll hunt at all hours during the continuous daylight of an Arctic summer – and may eat more than 1,600 lemmings in a single year!

Bonus Fact

A group of owls has many collective nouns, including a "bazaar", "glaring", "parliament", "stooping", and "wisdom" of owls.

Falcons

Leia, Pip & Freyja the Peregrine Falcons

Via eraptors.org

Peregrines have the fastest diving speed reaching around 200 miles an hour, with a record speed of 242 mph!

Puck the American Kestrel

Via eraptors.org

American kestrels are the smallest falcon species in North America, and one of the most colorful too! There are 13 species of Kestrels in the world, but the American Kestrel is the only one in the western hemisphere.

Ajkataku & Ciaran the Merlins

Via eraptors.org

A group of merlins has many collective nouns, including a "brace", "leash", and "illusion" of merlins.

Nike the Gyrfalcon

Via eraptors.org

The Gyrfalcon is the largest true falcon in the world. An arctic bird, the Gyrfalcon sometimes bathes in runoff water of still-frozen rivers.

Durango the Prairie Falcon

Via eraptors.org

The Prairie Falcon sometimes bathes in river shallows, but dust-bathing is probably more common than water-bathing, because of the general scarcity of standing water in its habitat.

Hawks

Cikala the Cooper’s Hawk

Via eraptors.org

A Cooper's Hawk captures a bird with its feet and kills it by repeated squeezing. Falcons tend to kill their prey by biting it, but Cooper’s Hawks hold their catch away from the body until it dies. They’ve even been known to drown their prey, holding a bird underwater until it stopped moving.

Eowyn the Ferruginous Hawk

Via eraptors.org

As the 'royal' Latin name suggests, the Ferruginous Hawk is the largest and heaviest hawk in North America.

Newton the Northern Goshawk

Via eraptors.org

The Northern Goshawk can be very persistent in pursuing prey. One goshawk was seen pursuing a snowshoe hare for 45 to 60 minutes along a hedgerow until finally the hare ran into a clearing and was seized.

Deva the Northern Harrier

Via eraptors.org

Northern Harriers are the most owl-like of hawks (though they’re not related to owls). They rely on hearing as well as vision to capture prey. The disk-shaped face looks and functions much like an owl’s, with stiff facial feathers helping to direct sound to the ears.

Ki the Red-Shouldered Hawk

Via eraptors.org

A notably territorial species, Red-Shouldered Hawks return to the same nesting territory year after year. One Red-shouldered Hawk occupied a territory in southern California for 16 consecutive years!

Uriel, Koa & Banjo the Red-Tailed Hawks

Via eraptors.org

Red-tailed Hawks often mate for life. Their courtship starts with each bird flying in circles high in the sky. Then the male makes a steep dive toward the ground, turns, and flies straight back up. The pair may then grab each other by their talons and fall together, spiraling, toward the ground where they fly apart.

Taka the Swainson’s Hawk

Via eraptors.org

Groups of soaring or migrating hawks are called “kettles.” When it comes to forming kettles, Swainson’s Hawks are overachievers: they form flocks numbering in the tens of thousands, often mixing with Turkey Vultures, Broad-winged Hawks, and Mississippi Kites to create a virtual river of migrating birds.

Tyee & Kenai the Rough-Legged Hawks

Via eraptors.org

The nests of these Arctic breeders sometimes contain the bones of caribou woven with the sticks.

Bonus Fact

The Rough-legged Hawk, the Ferruginous Hawk, and the Golden Eagle are the only North American raptors to have legs feathered all the way to the toes.

Other Raptors

Danu the Osprey

Via eraptors.org

Ospreys are excellent anglers. Over several studies, Ospreys caught fish on at least 1 in every 4 dives, with success rates sometimes as high as 70 percent. The average time they spent hunting before making a catch was about 12 minutes!

Kali & Lethe the Turkey Vultures

Via eraptors.org

Talk about strong stomachs! Not only can Turkey Vultures digest and dissolve anthrax, when threatened, it defends itself by vomiting powerful stomach acids.

Bonus Fact

Several bird species are considered raptors. Eagles, hawks, kites, falcons, and owls are all considered raptors. Vultures are often considered raptors as well, though they eat carrion and are more closely related to storks.

Anu & Dakini the White-Tailed Kites

Via eraptors.org

During the non-breeding season, the White-tailed Kite roosts communally, with more than 100 individuals counted at some roosts.

Non-Natives & Corvids

Kaida the Saker Falcon

Via eraptors.org

The Saker Falcon can be both highly agile and extremely fast, capable of diving for prey at 200 miles per hour!

Dmitri the Eurasian Eagle Owl

Via eraptors.org

As an apex predator, the Eurasian Eagle Owl has no natural predators. A lifespan of 20 years in the wild isn't uncommon for Eurasian Eagle Owls; birds in captivity have been known to live as much as 60 years!

Miri the Black-Billed Magpie

Via eraptors.org

Magpies are one of the only animal species to be able to recognize themselves in a mirror test.

Mitra the Raven

Brian Lanker / Via eraptors.org

When it comes to intelligence, Ravens rate up there with chimpanzees and dolphins.

Whooooo Is Your Favorite Bird?

Plan your visit to the Cascades Raptor Center and meet our residents!