Are Owls Considered Birds of Prey?

Whether owls are considered Birds of Prey is a common question for many and I think people are often unsure because owls are usually seen in a different light from other birds. I think this is mostly because they have slightly different characteristics that are very specific to being an owl such as they hunt mostly at night, they have a very specific appearance, they have an incredible silent flight ability, the fact they aren’t waterproof – honestly, the list goes on for why owls are such an iconic individualistic breed.

So the big question is… Are owls considered birds of prey?

To skip to the short answer, yes – owls are considered Birds of Prey and this post will explain why this is.

To consider why an owl is considered a bird of prey, we should probably first define what it means for a bird to be classified as a ‘Bird of Prey’.

Birds of prey are birds that hunt vertebrates, (these are animals with a backbone basically, to keep it nice and simple) it is often confused as any bird that consumes animals but vertebrates are a narrower definition. The prey can also be rather large compared to the size of the Bird of Prey, whereas normal birds that sometimes consume meat such as your normal garden birds tend to keep to much smaller prey relative to themselves (such as insects). These birds also don’t tend to hunt with their feet first, rather they rely more on their beaks whereas birds of prey kill with their talons. Birds of prey have hooked bills, sharp talons with exquisite sensory capacity and are known as Raptors as this name is taken from the latin term ‘rapio’ which means ‘to take by force’.

The defining characteristics for what constitutes a bird of prey is actually very difficult to decide and often the birds included in this group are argued about. The quickest definition I think we can use here for what constitutes a bird of prey would be a bird that eats meat (often large meat in relation to them) and catches their prey with their feet first. Therefore we can see from the definitions mentioned that owls are in fact considered birds of prey because they acquire all of these characteristics.

Birds of prey can be separated into 5 different categories and owls have in fact been given their own category deemed Strigiformes, this can also be split into two groups – Tytonidae (which is literally just barn owls) and then strigidae (other owls).  I have made the below table to show how the owl fits each characteristic of a bird of prey:

Prey	Feet	Beak	Hunting Style	Sensory Capacity
The owls diet varies regarding the species and what is available within their habitat but the most common include insects, spiders, worms, snails, fish, reptiles, amphibians, birds, small mammals and in some cases small household pets such as cats can be targeted.	Owls have extremely strong feet known as talons which differ from claws by being extremely strong and belonging primarily to birds of prey. Although, due to having fewer talons the owls feet do differ slightly to other raptors. Owls have three talons pointing forward and then one pointing back acting as a thumb for better grip of their prey.	Owls have hooked beaks that are short and curve downwards. This type of beak is designed to rip apart flesh from their prey. These beaks have extreme strength for crushing food.	Owls begin hunting (often at night but not all) by flying silently to find their prey without being noticed, their prey will be unaware they are even being hunted until it is too late. The super strong talons allow them to capture their prey feet first with impressive grip and force. The sharp claws combined with the help of the beak allow for an inescapable grasp on their prey.	Owls are known for their incredible sensory capabilities, they have large eyes to see prey in the darkness and incredible hearing allowing them to pinpoint the exact placement of their prey even if they cannot see them. The asymmetrical ear placement on the owls head allows the owl to know the exact location to strike.