Raptors also called Birds of Prey are those who hunt primarily vertebrates. They have sharp eyesight for detecting prey or food at a long distance during flight. Their claws are designed to grasp or kill prey. In absence of any hunt they even eat carcass. Vultures mainly eat carrion/carcass as their main food source which is also considered as big contributor in maintaining ecosystem.

Buzzard: Also commonly called as ( बाज़ ) are have fan shaped tail and major distinction between Kite and Hawks which has forked tail. Honey Buzzards are almost of same size as Kites, where as Black Baza has crest.

Kite: They are most common of the raptors and also can be seen in cities hovering around garbage dumps.

Hawks (Accipiters): They have broad, short wings and comparatively long legs and tail. Sparrowhawks are smaller in size and Northern Goshawk are similar with Kites. The are mainly found in or around forested areas and nests with sticks in tall trees.

Bird Name	Family Name	Record Location and Status	Preview
Black Baza	Baza
Jerdon's Baza	Baza
Besra	Besra
Common Buzzard	Buzzard
Grey faced Buzzard	Buzzard	Ranthombhore, Bharatpur
Long legged Buzzard	Buzzard	Sultanpur Fields, Bharatpur
Oriental Honey Buzzard	Buzzard	Bharatpur, Corbett
Rough legged Buzzard	Buzzard	Not Recorded in India
Upland Buzzard	Buzzard
White eyed Buzzard	Buzzard	Bharatpur
Crested Goshawk	Goshawk
Northern Goshawk	Goshawk
Black Kite	Kite	Entire North India
Black Shouldered Kite	Kite	Bharatpur, Corbett, Sultanpur
Brahminy Kite	Kite	Goa, Srirangapatna
Red Kite	Kite
Shikra	Shikra	Entire North India
Chinese Sparrowhawk	Sparrowhawk
Eurasian Sparrowhawk	Sparrowhawk
Japanese Sparrowhawk	Sparrowhawk
Nicobar Sparrowhawk	Sparrowhawk

Eagles are large, powerful and have wide wingspan among all raptors. Even the smaller eagles like Hawk Eagle and Small Serpent Eagle have beak and wings longer than other accipiters. Most eagles are larger than any other raptors except most vultures. Their broad and heavy beak is extremely powerful to tear the flesh of their prey.

Eagles nests are called eyries and are made on high cliffs.

Golden Eagle ( गरुड़ ) are lasgest among all raptors and are found in high Himalayan range.

whereas, Vultures are scavenging raptors and their population in India is downfall and few have even gone extinct. (in my childhood we use to see Vultures very often clearing dead animals carcass but are hardly found now)

Lammergeier also called bearded Vulture are found in high Himalayan ranges and are famous for an intelligent habit of dropping bones from height on rocks and feeding on bone marrow.

Bird Name	Family Name	Record Location and Status	Preview
Andaman (Dark) Serpent Eagle	Eagle
Black Eagle	Eagle	Bharatpur
Bonelli's Hawk Eagle	Eagle	Bharatpur
Booted Hawk Eagle	Eagle
Changeable Hawk Eagle	Eagle	Corbett, Uttaranchal
Crested Serpent Eagle	Eagle	Bharatpur
Eastern Imperial Eagle	Eagle
Golden Eagle	Eagle
Greater Spotted Eagle	Eagle	Bharatpur
Grey headed Fish Eagle	Eagle
Lesser Fish Eagle	Eagle
Lesser Spotted Eagle	Eagle
Mountain Hawk Eagle	Eagle
Pallas's Fish Eagle	Eagle
Rufous bellied Hawk Eagle	Eagle
Short toed Snake Eagle	Eagle	Bharatpur
Small (Great Nicobar) Serpent Eagle	Eagle
Small Serpent Eagle	Eagle
Steppe Eagle	Eagle	Sultanpur Fields
Tawny Eagle	Eagle	Bharatpur
White bellied Sea Eagle	Eagle	Goa
White tailed Eagle	Eagle
Eurasian Griffon	Griffon
Himalayan Griffon	Griffon	Spiti Valley, Upper Himalayas
Lammergeier	Lammergeier	Spiti Valley, Upper Himalayas
Osprey	Osprey	Kabini, Nagarhole
Cinereous Vulture	Vulture
Egyptian Vulture	Vulture	Jammu
Long billed Vulture	Vulture	Critically Endangered, Seen ~20years back
Red headed Vulture	Vulture	Bihar, Uttar Pradesh
White rumped Vulture	Vulture

OWLS, my favourite, though they are not true raptors, but are here in this section because have some similar feature.

Owls mostly hunt mammals, small birds, frogs etc. and also have some species as fish hunters. They are global Bird of Prey except very dry desert like or freezing cold lands.

Owls have a hawk type beak, ears on front of face which is designed to catch sonic sound waves which they release while hunting. Most birds of prey have eyes on the sides of their heads, whereas the stereoscopic nature of the owl’s forward-facing eyes gives them a greater sense and depth of vision also due to tube shaped eye for low-light hunting. Since their eyes cannot move like most creatures, still they have 270 degree vision as they can rotate their neck.

Bird Name	Family Name	Record Location and Status	Preview
Andaman Hawk Owl	Owl
Andaman scops Owl	Owl
Barn Owl	Owl	Bharatpur
Boreal Owl	Owl	Not Resident, a Rare or accidental Visitor
Brown fish Owl	Owl
Brown Hawk Owl	Owl
Brown wood Owl	Owl
Buffy fish Owl	Owl
Collared scops Owl	Owl	Bharatpur
Dusky Eagle Owl	Owl
Eurasian Eagle Owl	Owl	Sultanpur Fields
Eurasian scops Owl	Owl
Grass Owl	Owl
Hume's Owl	Owl	No Confirmed Status or Dubious
Little Owl	Owl
Long eared Owl	Owl
Mottled wood Owl	Owl
Mountain scops Owl	Owl
Oriental bay Owl	Owl
Oriental scops Owl	Owl
Pallid scops Owl	Owl
Short eared Owl	Owl
Snowy Owl	Owl
Spot-billed Eagle Owl	Owl
Tawny fish Owl	Owl
Tawny Owl	Owl
Asian barred Owlet	Owlet
Chestnut backed Owlet	Owlet
Collared Owlet	Owlet
Forest Owlet	Owlet
Jungle Owlet	Owlet
Spotted Owlet	Owlet	Bharatpur

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