Eagle is the common name for the golden eagle, bald eagle, and other birds of prey in the family Accipitridae. Eagles belong to several groups of genera, some of which are closely related. True eagles comprise the genus Aquila. Most of the 68 species of eagles are from Eurasia and Africa. Outside this area, just 14 species can be found—two in North America, nine in Central and South America, and three in Australia.
The Accipitridae is one of the three families within the order Accipitriformes, and is a family of small to large birds of prey with strongly hooked bills and variable morphology based on diet. They feed on a range of prey items from insects to medium-sized mammals, with a number feeding on carrion and a few feeding on fruit. The Accipitridae have a cosmopolitan distribution, being found on all the world's continents and a number of oceanic island groups. Some species are migratory. The family contains 255 species which are divided into 70 genera.
The belted kingfisher is a large, conspicuous water kingfisher, native to North America. All kingfishers are placed in one family, Alcedinidae, and recent research suggests that this should be divided into three subfamilies.
Buteo is a genus of medium to fairly large, wide-ranging raptors with a robust body and broad wings. In the Old World, members of this genus are called "buzzards", but "hawk" is used in the New World. As both terms are ambiguous, buteo is sometimes used instead, for example, by the Peregrine Fund.
The rosefinches are a genus, Carpodacus, of passerine birds in the finch family Fringillidae. Most are called "rosefinches" and as the word implies, have various shades of red in their plumage. The common rosefinch is frequently called the "rosefinch". The genus name is from the Ancient Greek terms karpos, "fruit", and dakno, "to bite".
Aegypiinae is one of two subfamilies of Accipitridae that are referred to as Old World vultures, the other being the Gypaetinae. They are not closely related to the Gypaetinae, and are instead thought to be the sister group to the serpent-eagles (Circaetinae).
The booted eagle is a medium-sized mostly migratory bird of prey with a wide distribution in the Palearctic and southern Asia, wintering in the tropics of Africa and Asia, with a small, disjunct breeding population in south-western Africa. Like all eagles, it belongs to the family Accipitridae.
The Buteoninae are a subfamily of birds of prey which consists of medium to large, broad-winged species.
The Accipitrinae are the subfamily of the Accipitridae often known as the "true" hawks, including all members of Accipiter and the closely related genera Erythrotriorchis, and Megatriorchis. The large and widespread genus Accipiter includes goshawks, sparrowhawks, the sharp-shinned hawk and others. They are primarily woodland birds that hunt by sudden dashes from a concealed perch, with long tails, broad wings and high visual acuity facilitating this lifestyle. In light of recent genetic research, the kites of the traditional subfamily Milvinae may also belong to this group.
Johann Jakob von Kaup was a German naturalist. A proponent of natural philosophy, he believed in an innate mathematical order in nature and he attempted biological classifications based on the Quinarian system. Kaup is also known for having coined popular prehistoric taxa like Pterosauria, Machairodus, Deinotherium, Dorcatherium, and Chalicotherium.
Parabuteo is a genus of bird of prey in the family Accipitridae. It contains the following species:
Aquila is the genus of true eagles. The genus name is Latin for "eagle", possibly derived from aquilus, "dark in colour". It is often united with the sea eagles, buteos, and other more heavyset Accipitridae, but more recently they appear to be less distinct from the slenderer accipitrine hawks than previously believed. Eagles are not a natural group but denote essentially any bird of prey large enough to hunt sizeable vertebrate prey.
The white-tailed hawk is a large bird of prey species found in tropical and subtropical environments of the Americas.
The black-chested buzzard-eagle is a bird of prey of the hawk and eagle family (Accipitridae). It lives in open regions of South America. This species is also known as the black buzzard-eagle, the gray buzzard-eagle, or analogously with "eagle" or "eagle-buzzard" replacing "buzzard-eagle", or as the Chilean blue eagle. It is sometimes placed in the genus Buteo.
Spizaetus is the typical hawk-eagle birds of prey genus found in the tropics of the Americas. It was however used to indicate a group of tropical eagles that included species occurring in southern and southeastern Asia and one representative of this genus in the rainforests of West Africa. The Old World species have been separated into the genus Nisaetus. Several species have a prominent head crest. These are medium to large-sized raptors, most being between 55 and 75 cm long, and tend to be long-tailed and slender.
The genus Hieraaetus, sometimes known as small eagles or hawk-eagles, denotes a group of smallish eagles usually placed in the accipitrid subfamilies Buteoninae or Aquilinae.
Buteogallus is a genus of birds of prey in the family Accipitridae. All members of this genus are essentially neotropical, but the distribution of a single species extends slightly into the extreme southwestern United States. Many of the species are fond of large crustaceans and even patrol long stretches of shore or riverbank on foot where such prey abounds, but some have a rather different lifestyle. Unlike many other genera of raptor, some members are referred to as "hawks", and others as "eagles".
Leucopternis is a Neotropical genus of birds of prey in the family Accipitridae. They are associated with tropical forest, and are uncommon or rare. Their plumage is largely black or gray above and white below, and they have distinctive orange ceres.
The black-and-white hawk-eagle is a bird of prey species in the eagle and hawk family (Accipitridae). It is found throughout a large part of tropical America, from southern Mexico to northern Argentina.
The variable hawk is a polymorphic species of bird of prey in the family Accipitridae.
