![]() Widespread use of DDT following World War II further decimated populations of many of these top predators. While people today enjoy watching hawks and eagles soaring majestically high overhead, it wasn’t all that long ago when raptors were wrongly persecuted as “varmints”. While owls predominantly hunt at night, all other raptors are diurnal or daytime predators. With the exception of vultures, which will be covered separately, raptors share the following features: powerful feet with sharp, curved talons used to capture their prey, a sharp, hooked beak for cutting and tearing meat, and keen eyesight. For the last several springs, many Richmonders have been thrilled to watch the progress of a pair of peregrine falcons caring for their offspring via a video camera installed on the McGuire Woods building and eagerly anticipate their return in the coming weeks. The Virginian-Pilot recently featured a story about the red-tailed hawks that still call the Virginia Beach Town Center area home, despite all of its recent development. ![]() The now famous red-tailed hawk, Pale Male, who was evicted from his nest site high atop an upscale New York City apartment, but then allowed to return, now has his own website and is the subject of an award-winning documentary. In fact, a number of raptors have been grabbing local and national headlines of late. But the real raptors, which collectively include eagles, hawks, kites, harriers, falcons, the osprey, owls and, depending on your source of reference, vultures are every bit as fascinating and worthy of our attention. These days, “raptor” is more likely to conjure up an image of a Toronto basketball player or one of those lithe, cunning dinosaurs of Jurassic Park fame, than the birds of prey to which this term more correctly refers.
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