Bird Parts

   A bird of prey has scaly skin on its feet. Each foot has three toes that face forward and one that sticks out of the back of the foot. The strongest, or gripping toes, are the back one and the inside front one. The outside ones are used for balance. At the end of each toe is a claw, or talon. Sometimes the claws make it hard for the bird to walk. An example of this is the Osprey. They catch fish so their talons are curved or bent so much that they have a hard time walking on the ground. Since they are hunting fish, not being able to walk around on the ground is not a big problem. Birds of prey have legs, feet and talons that are equipped to hunt whatever they like to eat like the Osprey.   Snake hunting birds have shorter toes so that the snake can’t wiggle its way out of its grip.
    Owls have weaker feet but sharper talons because they don’t use them to tear apart their prey, but rather to puncture their prey. Owls have feathered legs and feet to keep them warm. They also leave less of their body open to bites by prey. This is different from most raptors that have ‘bare’ feet.   Most raptors kill and tear apart their prey and end up with blood on their feet and talons. Owls don’t have this problem because they don’t use their feet in the same way. The bottom of an owl’s foot is bumpy so that prey can be gripped better. When owls are perched on a branch they can move their outer toe to the back because of a special joint they have. Owls are the only raptors that can do this.
    When we visited Mr. Sliker, a falconer, we were able to see talons up close. Their grip is amazing! They can put about 1400 pounds of pressure on their prey when humans are capable of only 400. Talons can pierce right through the body of a rodent! Talons are used for hunting, climbing, and perching. No matter where you sit, talons are scary looking.

We thought that feathers were all the same, but that isn’t true. There are different kinds of feathers that are used for different jobs.

	Down feathers: These feathers are used to keep the birds warm and, with owls, help them fly quietly.
	Flight feathers: These are on the wings and tail. The tail feathers help the bird steer and stop. The other flight feathers are fanned and moved as the bird flies.
	Contour feathers: These are used to cover the bird, keep it warm, and to mold the shape of the body so that air flows easily over it.

    When we visited Mr. Sliker, we learned that feathers can determine whether the raptor is a silent flier, like an owl, or one that can be heard, like a Peregrine Falcon. Raptors that can be heard while flying have stiff feathers which are strong enough to handle the wind resistance when they dive. This resistance is caused by the speed of the dive. Owls that have feathers with soft, fluffy edges can’t be heard while flying in the dark. Then they can swoop down on their prey unnoticed.
    Feathers are made of keratin which is the same thing that claws and fingernails are made from. Birds have more feathers in the winter than the summer to keep them warmer. Once a year, feathers will fall off and new ones will take their place. This is called molting. Molting takes a few months to do and all of the feathers are dropped and others are grown in their place. It is like baby teeth that you lose. You grow adult teeth to replace them. It’s the same with feathers—only it happens once a year.
    Feathers are used for more than flying. Males use their feathers to attract a female for mating and they can be used to camouflage the birds when they are nesting. They can also help sounds get into an owl’s ears.
    Birds get dirty and their feathers sometimes get messed up. When this happens, they use their beaks and talons to ‘preen’, or clean and straighten out their feathers.

Raptors can see better than humans! The time of day (day or night) when a raptor hunts determines how its eyes work.   Owls are mostly night time hunters (nocturnal) and to help them out seeing, they have binocular vision like humans do. This means that they use both eyes at the same time when they look at something. Think about how you look at things with binoculars. Both of your eyes are focused on one area. This helps the night time raptors to see how far away their next meal is. We call this depth perception. It also allows them to clearly see a larger area at one time.
    Owl eyes are very big compared to their body. If you compare the size of an owl's eyes compared to the size of his body, you would see how they compare to human eyes. With the same comparison of eyes to body size, human eyes would be a big as a grapefruit!   The size of their eyes helps them to capture more light from the stars and the moon to see with.
    Day time raptors have eyes that let them see their meals far away with lots of detail and color. They can focus on far away objects clearer than we can. A lot of diurnal raptors are looking for MICE hiding and running through tall grass.
    Diurnal raptors can also see movement in a larger area than we can without moving their head in another direction because they have monocular vision. Monocular vision means that the raptor's eyes are able to work separately. That's kind of cool because they can see different things with each one. The raptor's eyes are toward the side of its head and its side vision is great. They can see predators coming up from behind them easier than nocturnal raptors can.

Krautwurst , Terry. “Raptors, the sky masters.” Mother Earth News. Aug/Sep2007 Issue 223, p52-57.

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