About Falconry Raptors

rap·tor
A bird of prey; specifically, a carnivorous bird that seizes its prey with its feet.
Their feet.
That's the critical difference separating the raptors from other carnivorous birds, such as herons, that seize and kill their prey with their beaks.

Not all raptors are desirable for falconry purposes, and not all are legal at the federal or state level.
The birds appearing on this list are the ones most commonly used. Hybrids have also been created.

Click on any name for more information; some links have pictures and even recordings of their calls.
Many thanks to these sites for having such fabulous information available!

American Kestrel	Falco sparverius (male referred to as a "kestrelet")
Aplomado Falcon	Falco femoralis femoralis, Falco femoralis pichinchae
Barbary Falcon	Falco pelegrinoides
Black Sparrowhawk	Accipiter melanoleucus
Bonelli's Eagle	Hieraetus fasciatus
Cooper's Hawk	Accipiter Cooperi
Eurasian Eagle Owl	Bubo bubo
Eurasian Kestrel	Falco tinnunculus
Eurasian Sparrowhawk	Accipiter nisus (male referred to as a "musket")
Ferruginous Hawk	Buteo regalis
Golden Eagle	Aquila chrysaetos
Great Horned Owl	Bubo virginianus
Gyrfalcon	Falco rusticolus (male referred to as a "gyrkin")
Harris' Hawk	Parabuteo unicinctus
Hobby	Falco subbuteo
Indian Shikra	Accipiter badius dussumieri
Lanner Falcon	Falco biarmicus
Lugger or Lagger Falcon	Falco jugger
Merlin	Falco columbarius (male referred to as a "jack") Subspecies: Black F.c. suckleyi, Taiga F. c. columbarius, Prairie or Richardson's F. c. richardsonii
Northern Goshawk	Accipiter gentilis
Peregrine Falcon	Falco peregrinus (male referred to as a "tiercel")
Prairie Falcon	Falco mexicanus
Red-naped Shaheen	Falco peregrinus babylonicus
Red-shouldered Hawk	Buteo lineatus elegans
Red-tailed Hawk	Buteo jamaicensis
Saker Falcon	Falco cerrung milvipes
Sharp-shinned Hawk	Accipiter striatus
Taita Falcon	Falco fasciinucha
Turumti Falcon (aka Redheaded Merlin)	Falco chicquera
White-tailed Hawk	Buteo albicaudatus

Some Notes on Hybrids and "Designer" Birds

What are they?
Hybrids are simply a cross between two species produced by either natural mating or artificial insemination (AI). Hybrids don't have to be 50/50 either; a peregrine/gyr hybrid crossed with a peregrine yields 75% peregrine, 25% gyr offspring. "Designer" birds is a catch-all label for hybrids or "tribrids", such as this peregrine/lanner/gyr. Some consider crosses between subspecies (anatum and Peales' peregrines, for example) to be hybrids as well.

What do you call them?
It depends. Each cross has a commonly-used name. If a hybrid does go by a "hybridized" name, it's a combination of the father first, then mother. The female will usually be the smaller species, since a small eyass in a too-large egg can't get enough leverage to break the shell and hatch. This leads to some more common names, like "perlin" (peregrine/merlin) as opposed to "merligrine" (merlin/peregrine). Some are simply called by their species names: gyrperegrines, gyrsakers. Gyr/peregrines are sometimes called the Superfalcon; some folks call the smaller gyr/merlin cross a "pocket rocket".

Are hybrids infertile?
Not all hybrids are infertile. Gyr/saker crosses may be fertile; some gyr/peregrine males may be fertile with female peregrines, although not with another hybrid. However, hybrids use in falconry in Washington must be either "hard" imprinted - they think they're humans and thus will not court another bird for breeding - or surgically sterilized.

Aren't hybrids controversial?
To a degree. Opinion on hybridization varies from "never!" (to put it politely) to "the best bird there is". Responsible hybridizers are looking for better color, size, feet, strength, temperament, flying style, heat tolerance, speed, agility, and/or disease resistance.

What birds are used to create hybrids for falconry?
The gyrfalcon and peregrine crosses are common, the gyr/peregrine itself being the most common. Birds that are tribrids, or more, are very rare. These are some of the most common crosses.

barbary x gyrfalcon, lanner, merlin, prairie
gyrfalcon x barbary, lanner, merlin, peregrine, prairie, saker
lanner x lugger
peregrine x lanner, merlin, prairie, saker

Much less common are crosses such as the common kestrel x merlin and American kestrel x peregrine. Viable crosses other than falcons are rare, but include harris' hawk x redtailed hawk and harris' hawk x coopers hawk.