What are your favourite birds of prey globally?

[Hardcastle]

The local bird of prey thread was cool, interesting to see what people have in their area. But what about globally?

My top five-

1. Bateleur Eagle


2. Martial Eagle


3. Ornate Hawk Eagle


4. Brown Goshawk


5. African Crowned Eagle


So my local hero Brown Goshawk still made the list and I can honestly say it would be my top choice for a pet if I got into falconry. I think goshawks in general are the most impressive birds of prey for level-flight pursuit/agility and I consistently admire that trait in predators.

I think the Bateleur will always be my favourite bird of prey, however, it has just awed me since I was a small kid and for some reason still gets me excited. Learning more about it has actually made me like it more. A weird analogy but I almost see it like the Jaguar of raptors. It's kind of an odd duck and versatile with it's wide range of strange prey items that it kind of "figures out" as it goes a long, and this reminds me of the jaguar. Also stocky and apparently performs well in intra-specific raptor disputes, sometimes as an underdog against technically bigger better eagles.

[Hardcastle]

Sometimes quora pulls through, cool pic of my favourite bird-

[lincoln]

This a tough one

In no particular order:

red throated caracara
secretary bird
Great horned owl
Harpy eagle
Snowy owl
California condor
Barred owl
Great grey owl
Osprey
goshawk
Red tailed hawk
peregrine falcon

I could go on, I’m just a huge fan of birds of prey in general

[lincoln]

I think red throated caracara are very unique because they use teamwork

[Hardcastle]

Some very interesting and diverse selections. I'm a little eagle heavy but it's how I was feeling.

[Hardcastle]

My favourite vulture has always been the good old fashioned Griffon Vulture... which I'm embarassed to say I didn't realise was actually multiple different species. Now I don't know which one I like-

I guess it was probably the Ruppell's because I was thinking of the ones I see in the documentaries about the national parks in Africa. Could also be the cape.

I like that look anyway. The Himalayan, Eurasian Griffon, Ruppell's, Cape, White backed, Indian, etc. The classic iconic vulture.