Birds of Prey

One of the UK’s native species of owls and widespread across the world, barn owls like to live in the countryside and go out hunting for mice, voles and other small rodents at night.

The red kite is common throughout the UK and you can see them soaring effortlessly in the sky showing off their beautiful, forked tails. Merlot is now flying free and is learning how to soar. We are excited at her progress and will be looking forward to using her in experience days and demonstrations throughout the new season.

Black barn owls have an extremely rare, genetic colour mutation called melanism which makes their feathers dark. Only 1 in every 100,000 barn owls have this colouration!

Harris hawks are sociable, intelligent birds that can be found in the marshland and desert areas of Central and South America. Female Harris hawks are much larger than the males so they tend to be more dominant within their family group.

Our second smallest falcon, the Kestrel is found across the UK, Eurasia and Africa. Kestrels can hover so they can look out for small rodents in the grass and swoop on them without needing a branch to sit on!

Peregrine falcons stoop out of the sky onto their unsuspecting prey. This species can reach speeds of over 200mph which makes them the fastest living thing on our planet. It’s lovely to have our largest, native falcon as part of the Coda Falconry team and we are looking forward to seeing him tearing around our flying arena as part of our public flying demonstrations.

Burrowing owls are small, long legged owls that live in North and South America. They are active during the day and are very sociable, often making small communities in the wild.

You can hear Tawny owls across the UK, Eurasia and North Africa calling out their familiar song of “Twit Twoo” high in the trees! They like to hide away during the day and wake up at night to catch their favourite prey of small rodents.

A beautiful, South American falcon who’s name means “lead coloured” in Spanish. This refers to their slate blue/grey back markings. The Aplomado falcon forms a strong bond with their mate and they will work together to catch prey! They like to feed on insects, small mammals and birds.

This large, powerful buzzard lives throughout Central and North America. Their beautiful red tail feathers are considered sacred within Native American cultures and are often used in their religious ceremonies.

Uri the Steppe eagle is the largest member of our flying team. With just over a 6ft wingspan and weighing in at over 5lbs, Uri is unmistakable on demonstration and will fly to our guests as part of our experience days. Sadly, the Steppe eagle is endangered in the wild due to loss of habitat and egg collecting.

One of the largest species of owl in the world, the Eurasian eagle owl can be found in the wild across the UK and Eurasia. They can live for up to 60 years in captivity! Eurasian eagle owls like to live in dense forests where their beautiful camouflage makes them all but disappear into the trees.

Great grey owls are a very large species of owl found in North America and across Northern Europe. The great grey owl's large facial disc helps them to hear small rodents moving around beneath them, even under 2ft of snow!

The Sunda scops owl is a beautiful, tiny species of owl that’s found in the woodlands of Asia. They eat insects, geckos and other lizards and have adapted to living and nesting in buildings where these food sources are abundant.

The largest member of the crow family, the raven is an intelligent, sociable and adaptive bird. Ravens can be found across the UK, Scandinavia, North America and Northern Europe. Unlike birds of prey, ravens are omnivores - so as well as meat, they also eat fruit and vegetables.