By Thomas Bancroft

Birders love to look for raptors, and we often talk about these birds. But what are
they? For sure, hawks, eagles, and falcons, but what about owls? Some say “vertebrate”
eaters with talons and a hooked beak, but does that eliminate kites that eat a lot of
insects? What about shrikes, which seem like ferocious hunters but don’t have talons?
Lots to think about.

We will explore how the definition of raptor has changed since I started birding in
the mid-1960s. To me, though, a fascinating topic is how birds have adapted to exploit
new foods. More than 75% of terrestrial life went extinct when the meteor hit at the end
of the Cretaceous period. Since then, life has evolved to fill niches (opportunities) made by
climate and continental drift. As new life forms evolved, something emerged to eat it,
and pondering why and who is mind-boggling. Recent genetic work shows that falcons
are not very closely related to hawks, eagles, and kites. Their closest relatives are parrots
and passerines rather than those other “raptors” with talons. Then, what do we do with
vultures?

We will explore what a raptor is, but we will do it with a tongue-in-cheek approach.
Thinking about how birds have adapted to opportunities and evolved to exploit those
niches will fill us with wonder. The evolution of birds we call raptors is
incredible; how different evolutionary lines converge to exploit vertebrate prey is
stunning. Talons, hooked beaks, and a focus on vertebrate prey evolved multiple times,
and then some groups with these traits drifted in a new direction.

The science of these birds is rapidly changing, and what was thought in the 1970s
when I was in graduate school changed dramatically by the early 2000s and is
transforming yet again. This talk will synthesize thousands of scientific papers published
in the last 50 years. When you buy a new bird book, you might have noticed that the
sequence of families and species changed from earlier versions. That change also
happens in our eBird checklists as the taxonomy is updated. We will concentrate on
raptors of Western North America, but we will peek at some from Australia, Africa,
Panama, and Brazil. This evening will leave you with much to ponder and a new way of
considering that word, raptor.

Thomas Bancroft has been a lifelong birder and naturalist. He holds a Ph.D. in Biology
and an M.A. in Zoology from the University of South Florida. His research focused on
birds and their conservation. Thomas served in leadership roles for several conservation
organizations, where he championed the use of scientific information in U.S. public
lands policy and stewardship decisions and was often interviewed for TV, radio, and
print media. He is a frequent speaker and writes regularly for the Mountaineers,
Washington Ornithological Society, and Audubon chapters. His photographs have
appeared in numerous books and publications, including Audubon, Birding, American
Birds, and Mountaineer Magazine, as well as at the Smithsonian Natural History and
the Burke Museums. Washington State University Press recently published his book
Beyond the Wonder: An Ecologist’s View of Wild Alaska. The Press called his book “a
beautiful meditation on nature—one that highlights the importance of untamed places
and the role they play in crafting a better world.” Bancroft received the Mountaineers
2020 Service Award for his volunteer work.