Many of the well-known raptors such as Buzzards, Harriers, Hawks, Kites, and Old World Vultures are included in the Accipitriformes group.
- Eagles tend to be large, powerful birds with long, broad wings and massive feet. Booted Eagles have legs and feet feathered to the toes and build very large stick nests.
- Hawks are usually medium-sized birds of prey. They are mainly woodland birds that hunt by sudden dashes from a concealed perch. They usually have long tails for tight steering.
- Buzzards are medium-large raptors with robust bodies and broad wings are also commonly known as “Hawks” in North America, while “Buzzard” is colloquially used for Vultures.
- Harriers are large, slender hawk-like birds with long tails and long thin legs. Most use a combination of keen eyesight and hearing to hunt small vertebrates, gliding on their long broad wings and circling low over grassland and marshes.
- Kites have long wings and relatively weak legs. They spend much of their time soaring. They will take live vertebrate prey, but mostly feed on insects or carrion.
- Vultures are scavengers and carrion-eating raptors of two distinct biological families: the Old World, which occurs only in the Eastern Hemisphere; and the New World, which occurs only in the Western Hemisphere. Members of both groups have heads either partly or fully devoid of feathers.
