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Re: What is a raptor? (was E. Neck Hawk Watch)

From:

Walter Ellison

Reply-To:

Maryland Birds & Birding

Date:

Mon, 25 Oct 2004 21:04:15 -0400

Hi All,

If owls can be considered raptors, in spite of a very distant taxonomic
relationship to hawks and falcons - and they are considered raptors in every
sense of the word - then New World vultures can also safely be kept within
the fold. The original order *Raptores* of Linnaeus included owls and New
World vultures. Raptor has not been a taxonomic term for a long time.
Recently the hawk fanatics have taken to restricting raptor to diurnal
hunters, but this is not the dictionary definition, as Casey Stengel was
fond of saying, "You could look it up".  If it's big, has cruel talons, a
hooked beak and eats vertebrate flesh, dead or alive, it's a raptor. Of
course this begs the question regarding meat eaters like Marabou Storks,
frog and fish catchers such as herons, and the like, but that can be fodder
for furthering this thread. Sorry for the pedantic tone, but pedantry is
sometimes infectious; besides George brought my name into the discussion.

In Sheepish Controversialism,

Walter Ellison

23460 Clarissa Road
Chestertown, MD 21620
phone: 410-778-9568
e-mail: 

"A person who is looking for something doesn't travel very fast" - E. B.
White (in "Stuart Little")


----- Original Message -----
From: "George M. Jett" <>
To: <>
Sent: Monday, October 25, 2004 8:24 PM
Subject: Re: [MDOSPREY] Eastern Neck Hawk Watch - Saturday October 23


> Folks
>
> Vultures are not raptors.  They are more closely related to storks, but
> Walter Ellison can explain this in more detail then I.  They often get
> included in raptor counts.  Raptors are in the order falconidae and
> accipitridae.  Vultures are cathartidae, and they are now placed before
> waterfowl (ducks and geese).  Maybe it is tradition.
>
> George