Once again they’ve taken wing. Along the Pacific Flyway—a 4,000-mile corridor stretching from Alaska to Baja— millions of birds of many feathers and forms are flying south to warmer climes. But none dazzle the eye and stir the soul more than raptors, meat-eating birds of prey that include falcons, hawks, vultures and eagles.

These masters of the sky have evolved highly efficient predatory superpowers. On average, they see eight to ten times more sharply than humans and can track prey from nearly a mile away. Their powerful talons can snatch fish from water or flush small mammals from brush. Their hooked, razor-sharp bills can tear into flesh within seconds.

As they migrate and hunt, raptors also engage in breathtaking aerial acrobatics:

• Kettling: Taking advantage of thermal updrafts—columns of warm air rising from the ground—raptors gather in groups and circle to gain altitude without expending much energy.
• Soaring and gliding: By extending their wings to surf air currents, raptors rise higher and higher with minimal exertion. Once they gain altitude, they rely on the wind beneath their wings to carry them over impressive distances—some as far as 200 miles in a single day.
• Stooping: Peregrine falcons, the fastest animals on earth, fold their wings tight against their bodies and dive at speeds exceeding 200 mph to strike unsuspecting prey with deadly precision.
• Hovering: American kestrels, small, agile falcons known for their swift and graceful flight, can remain nearly motionless in the air. While rapidly beating their wings, they scan the ground below for insects, small birds and rodents.
• Coursing: Northern harriers, slender, long-winged hawks, fly low, skimming the contours of fields and marshes. An owl-like disk on their faces funnels sound, helping them detect the faint rustle of prey hidden in the grass.
• Catch and carry: An osprey’s reversible outer toes and spiny foot pads keep a tight grip on a slippery catch during flight.
• Mantling; After a successful hunt, raptors may spread their wings and hunch over their catch to shield it from competitors. Among the wiliest prey pirates: bald eagles.
• Locking talons: In one of their most dramatic maneuvers, two raptors interlock talons and tumble earthward in a spiraling freefall. Sometimes the two are engaged in a fierce territorial battle, but a mid-air hook-up also can be a courtship ritual. Whatever the motive, observers describe the heart-stopping sight as “a dopamine rush.”

Although they rule the air, raptors need to come to earth during their long journeys. Stopover points—ridge lines, valleys and coastal headlands—provide places to rest and refuel before continuing south.  However, with encroaching development, the loss of wetlands and climate change, such oases have become fewer and farther apart.

As conservationists work to protect raptors and their migration routes, citizen-scientists around the world contribute invaluable data by tracking numbers and species during fall migrations. However, more than science inspires their diligent vigils.

“Observing raptors is as close as we humans can get to flying,” says Dave Barry, who has led a West Sonoma County Hawkwatch team since 2012. I agree. When I lift my binoculars to follow these magnificent creatures arc across the sky, my feet  remain planted on the ground. But for a few splendid moments, I too breathe the salt-laced air, dance with the wind and reach for the heavens.

Photos by Eric Vetter.

This post is dedicated to the late Larry Broderick, a beloved naturalist and educator whose enthusiasm for raptors inspired so many of us. Long may his spirit soar!