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Hawks have strong talons, curved bills and keen eyesight.

Buzzard

Hawks have strong talons, curved bills and keen eyesight.

The Turkey vulture is found over the whole United States, but is more numerous in the southern region (Smiley, 1839).

Turkey Vulture

The Turkey vulture is found over the whole United States, but is more numerous in the southern region…

Vultures are carrion eaters. The head and neck are usually bare, and the bill and claws weaker than in the raptors.

Turkey Vulture

Vultures are carrion eaters. The head and neck are usually bare, and the bill and claws weaker than…

Beak of Buzzard.

Buzzard Beak

Beak of Buzzard.

"Sherman's Campaign. The capture of Buzzard's Roost at Hovey Gap, Ga., May 8th, 1864. Among the strongholds selected by the Confederates for the defense of Atlanta against the Federals was Buzzard's Roost, carried in spite of all their endeavors, on the 8th of May, by the indomitable courage of Sherman's men. It is a high, rocky elevation on Mill Creek, a branch of the Oostanaula, between Ringgold and Dalton. Our artist said: 'Our advance engaged in some very heavy skirmishing, which lasted for several hours. At first our lines were slowly forced back by the vastly superior numbers of the enemy, who resisted with a stubborn desperation our attempted advance. From out their long lines of concealed rifle-pits they showered their leaden messengers of death with terrible effect upon our troops. A charge was finally ordered, and then ensued one of those furious encounters that can only occur in a hand-to-hand conflict. They drove the Confederates from the fortress, leaving only the dead and wounded in their rifle-pits.'"— Frank Leslie, 1896

Buzzard's Roost

"Sherman's Campaign. The capture of Buzzard's Roost at Hovey Gap, Ga., May 8th, 1864. Among the strongholds…

"<em>B. vulgaris</em> is twenty-two inches long, the head is large and the body heavy. Above, the color is chocolate-brown; grayish-white beneath. Its flight is low, and much of its time is spent in sitting on trees, in wooded districts, awaiting its prey, which consists of small quadrupeds, birds, reptiles, insects, and earthworms." &mdash Goodrich, 1859

Common Buzzard of Europe

"B. vulgaris is twenty-two inches long, the head is large and the body heavy. Above, the color…

Also known as the winter falcon, is found in California, Wisconsin, and South Carolina.

Red-Shouldered Hawk

Also known as the winter falcon, is found in California, Wisconsin, and South Carolina.

Genus <em>Cathartes</em>, found in the Americas, sometimes as far north as New England.

Turkey Buzzard

Genus Cathartes, found in the Americas, sometimes as far north as New England.

Genus <em>Coragyps</em>, about the size of a small turkey. This one is feeding on a cow's head.

Black Vulture

Genus Coragyps, about the size of a small turkey. This one is feeding on a cow's head.

Genus <em>Cathartes</em>, found in the Americas, sometimes as far north as New England. These buzzards are feeding on the entrails of a horse.

Turkey Buzzards

Genus Cathartes, found in the Americas, sometimes as far north as New England. These buzzards…

Black vulture (or carrion crow), genus <em>Coragyps</em>, about the size of a small turkey. This group is feeding on a fallen pig.

Black Vulture

Black vulture (or carrion crow), genus Coragyps, about the size of a small turkey. This group…

<em>C. Californianus</em>, a large species of vulture, found only on the western side of the Rocky Mountains, usually near rivers.

California Vulture

C. Californianus, a large species of vulture, found only on the western side of the Rocky Mountains,…

"Rough-Legged Buzzard, (Archibuteo lagopus)."-Whitney, 1902

Rough Legged Buzzard

"Rough-Legged Buzzard, (Archibuteo lagopus)."-Whitney, 1902

"The Osprey, the fish hawk, bald buzzard, or fishing eagle. A bird of prey, of almost world wide distribution usually near the seashore, and, unlike rapacious birds generally, are in some measure gregarious. In North America large communities of ospreys are found, and the purple grakle often builds close by. The osprey lays three or four eggs of a rich red to buffy white, with large reddish and brown markings."&mdash;(Charles Leonard-Stuart, 1911)

Osprey

"The Osprey, the fish hawk, bald buzzard, or fishing eagle. A bird of prey, of almost world wide distribution…

A large bird.

Buzzard

A large bird.

"In birds of prey the claws are powerful and hooked; in others the foot is flat, claws straight, and adapted for walking."

Foot of Honey-Buzzard

"In birds of prey the claws are powerful and hooked; in others the foot is flat, claws straight, and…

"Buteo borealis. Red-tailed Buzzard. "Hen Hawk". Upper surface of tail rich chestnut, with white tip and usually a black subterminal zone, with or without other narrower and more or less imperfect black bars; sometimes barred throughout. From below, the tail appears pearly whitish with a reddish tinge, wither quite uniform, or barred throughout with the whitish and blackish. In general, it is the female with the most barred or completely barred tail, the male with the uniform tail, only subterminally once-zoned. Upper parts blackish-brown, with a thoroughly indeterminate amount of light variegation, gray, fulvous, and whitish; feathers of hind head and nape with cottony white bases, showing when disturbed; those of hind neck usually with fulvous edging; of scapular region showing most variegation with tawny or whitish, or both, the scapulars and adjoining feathers being largely barred, and only blackish on their exposed portions; upper tail-coverts showing much tawny and white. Ground color of under parts white, more or less buff-toned, the dark color of the upper parts reaching nearly or quite around the throat, the flanks and lower belly heavily marked with dark brown or blackish, but a large pectoral area, with the tibiae and crissum, mostly free from markings, as a rule; but no description will cover the latitude of coloration. Primaries blackening on their exposed portions, for the rest lighter grayish-brown, dark-barred across both webs, and extensively white-areated on inner webs basally." Elliot Coues, 1884

Red-tailed Buzzard

"Buteo borealis. Red-tailed Buzzard. "Hen Hawk". Upper surface of tail rich chestnut, with white tip…

"Archibuteo lagopus sancti-johannis. American Rough-legged Buzzard. "Black Hawk" Adult: Too variable in plumage to be concisely described. In general, the whole plumage with dark brown or blackish and light brown, gray, or whitish, the lighter colors edging or barring the individual feathers; tendency to excess of the whitish on the head, and to the formation of a dark abdominal zone or area which may or may not include the tibiae; usually a blackish anteorbital and maxillary area. Lining of wings extensively blackish. Tail usually white from the base for some distance, then with dark and light barring. The inner webs of the flight-feathers white from the base, usually with little if any of the dark barring so prevalent among buteonine hawks. From such a light and variegated plumage as this, the bird varies to more or less nearly uniform blackish, in which case the tail is usually barred several times with white. Our lighted-colored birds are not fairly separable from the normal European A. Lagopus; but our birds average darker, and their frequent melanism does not appear to befall the European stock. But in any plumage the rough-leg is known at a glance from any Buteo by the feathered shanks; while the peculiar coloration of A. ferrugineus i highly distinctive of the latter." Elliot Coues, 1884

American Rough-legged Buzzard

"Archibuteo lagopus sancti-johannis. American Rough-legged Buzzard. "Black Hawk" Adult: Too variable…

"Cathartes aura. Turkey Buzzard. Blackih-brown, grayer on the wing-coverts; quills black, ashy-gray on their under surface; tail black, with pale brown shafts. Head red, from livid crimson to pale carmine, with whitish specks usually; bill dead white; feet flesh-colored; iris brown." Elliot Coues, 1884

Turkey Buzzard

"Cathartes aura. Turkey Buzzard. Blackih-brown, grayer on the wing-coverts; quills black, ashy-gray…

<i>Circaetus gallicus</i> is a "bird of prey inhabiting all the countries bordering the Mediterranean, and thence eastward to the whole of the Indian peninsula and part of the Malay archipelago. The male is 26 inches long; the female, 30 inches; the pointed wings are more than half as long again as the tail; the tarsi are mostly naked; the nostrils are oval perpendicularly; the head is crested with lanceolate feathers; and in the adult the breast is white, streaked with brown." &mdash;Whitney, 1889

Snake Buzzard, Also Called a Short-Toed Eagle

Circaetus gallicus is a "bird of prey inhabiting all the countries bordering the Mediterranean, and…