Birds of Prey for Kids: Eagles, Hawks, Falcons and Owls

Birds of prey, also called raptors, hunt with sharp eyesight, hooked beaks and strong feet with curved talons. This puzzle has seven of them: the eagle, the hawk, the falcon, the kestrel, a small falcon that hovers in the air, the owl that hunts at night, the buzzard and the vulture, which eats animals that are already dead.

Most words read across, but eagle and falcon go backwards, and buzzard and owl run upward.

Birds Of Prey Vocabulary: 7 Words to Find

Words run across, up and down; 4 of the 7 read backwards. The longest words are Buzzard, Kestrel and Vulture, with 7 letters each.

Buzzard: A large bird of prey. In Britain it is a kind of hawk; in America the name is often used for vultures.
Eagle: A large, powerful bird of prey with a hooked beak and very sharp eyesight.
Falcon: A fast bird of prey with long, pointed wings. The peregrine falcon is the fastest animal on Earth.
Hawk: A bird of prey with broad wings and a hooked beak that hunts by day.
Kestrel: A small falcon that can hover in one place in the air while it watches the ground for mice.
Owl: A bird of prey that hunts at night, with large forward-facing eyes and silent flight.
Vulture: A large bird of prey that mostly eats animals that are already dead, helping keep nature clean.

How to Solve the Birds Of Prey Word Search

"Buzzard" has a double Z and runs upward; it is the only word with a Z or a B. "Vulture" is the only word with a V and runs straight down. "Hawk" and "kestrel" both read normally across and share the letter K.

Bird of Prey Activities for Kids

Look at pictures of talons and beaks and ask children why they are shaped that way.
Sort the birds: which ones hunt by day and which by night?
Go birdwatching and look for a hawk circling or a kestrel hovering over a field.