The raptors as a group include the hawks, eagles, falcons, buzzards, vultures, etc which capture the imagine in such disparate ways for animals which are so similar. Eagles are emblazoned on so many nation's flags as a symbol of freedom and the will to fight for it. Vultures on the other hand are thought of as ‘unclean' and ‘just waiting around for something to die'. It would seem to me that the one who at least waits for something to die is showing a lot more patience and (though it may only be the appearance) sympathy than the ‘noble' raptors which would jump on it while it still feels pain or fear. Vultures normally don't even have the strength in their bills to break the skin of a living animal. They watch patiently for any signs of life - just a blink of an eye, the pained taking of a last fragile breath is all it would take to send them all back up into the trees. Most of the ancients we are going to portray in this group felt very different about vultures than we do. Among the Halaf, the Semites, and the Hamangians (the only ones I know about the treatment of the dead for), they all left their dead out for a few weeks till the vultures, crows, and ravens had cleaned the bodies of all the parts that would start to stink soon. It was then fairly common for them to bury the bones except the skull. The skull was often saved, either as it was or after being plastered and with shells placed over the eyes. It is assumed the skull was then put in a place of respect within the household. It is my guess that scavenger birds held a place of fairly high esteem among most of these peoples.

I have compiled a list of all the raptors which people in our group will come across, no matter where their migrations take them. It's pretty extensive. Within my list, there are links for each species showing its range. This often includes seasonal differences, because many of these birds are migratory, in order to follow the pleasant weather. When they are, the maps will show green areas wherever they stay all year, blue areas where they stay in the winter, and usually yellow where they stay in the summer. The maps aren't going to be enough to tell where the birds will be. I have a birdwatching book for Asia which will tell me specifically where the birds tend to be found; alongside rivers, in grassland, in coniferous forest or broadleaf forest. Where it is possible, I will make this information available. I know this may sound daunting if you are expected to only write about birds I think will be in the area. Please understand that I don't intend to complain about mistakes. I expect to make several myself. I'm only going to try to make as much information available as I can for people to use in their posts.

Other lists I'll be putting up will include songbirds, gamebirds, and birds with colorful feathers or unusual behaviors to interact with. Colorful birds can either be admired as they are or, ahem, ‘deprived' of their feathers to adorn the fairer sex in the group. When you use the links to a bird's pictures, please remember that they are often ‘clickable' to get a larger version of the pic. Also, it helps in some cases to know that in linked pages which have several bird's pictures on them, you can find out the name either by holding the pointer still over the picture. The name will either come up in print on top of the picture or in the bar at the bottom of the window. When the songbird list gets posted, many of them have "song" links listed. In fact, the only way I knew they were good songbirds was by listening to them. As a nature-lover, I thoroughly enjoyed listening to all of them, and I hope you all have computers with the capability to play them. Some linked pages don't go to a page with the song link there. In those cases, you look for the name of the bird species the link was for on that page and click it. That will take you to a page for which links don't work where you can find the recording and click on that. The other lists are mostly finished and will be posted soon, but for now, here are the Raptors:

Common Kestrel Song, Range, Pic 1, Pics and Info 1, Pics and Info 2, Pics, Info, and Song
Lesser Kestrel Info and Pix, Info and Pix2, Range, Pics and Info
Red Kite Range, Info and Pix, Info, Pics, and Song
Black Kite Range, Info, Pix, and Song, Info, Pics, and Song
Black-shouldered Kite Range, 2 pics, adult and juvenile, Pic 1, Pic 2, Pic 3, Pic 4, Song, Pic and Info, Info
Hen Harrier Range, Info, pix, and Song, Info, Pics and Song
Pallid Harrier Range, Pic 1, Pic 2, Pic and Info, Pics
Montagu's Harrier Range, Song, Pic 1, Pics, Pic and Info, Pics and Info
Western Marsh Harrier Range, Pix and Info, Pics, Info and Song
Eleonora's Falcon Picture & Info, Range
Peregrine Falcon Info, Pics, and Song, Range, Pic 1, Pic 2, Info, Pics, and Song
Barbary Falcon Range, Pic 1, Pic 2, Pic and Info
Northern Goshawk Song, Range, Pic 1, Pics and Info, Pics and Info 2, Info, Pics and Song
Lanner Falcon Song, Range, Pic 1, Pic 2, Pic3, Pic and Info, Info, pics, and Song
Eurasian Sparrowhawk Info, Pics, and Song
Levant Sparrowhawk Range, Pic, Info, Info, Pics, and Range, Info, Info and Pics
Osprey Song, Info, Pics, and Song, Pic, Pic 2, Range, Info, pics and Song
Short-toed Eagle Range, Info, Pix, and Song, Info
White-tailed Eagle Range, Pic, Pix, Info, and Song, Info, pics and Song
Pallas's Fish Eagle Range, Pics, Info, Info
African Fish Eagle Range, Info and Pix, Pics and Info
Lesser spotted Eagle Range, Pic and Info 1, Pic and Info 2, Pics, Pic 1, Pic 2
Greater Spotted Eagle Range, Pic and Info, Pics, Pic
Steppe Eagle Range, Pics, Pic and Info 1, Pic and Info 2, Pic 1, Pic 2
Imperial Eagle Info & Range (no map), Pic 1, Pic 2, Pic 3, Pic and Info, Pics, Info, and Song
Golden Eagle Range, Info and Song, Pic, Pic and Info, Info, Pics and Song
Verreaux's Eagle Range, Pic, Postal stamp Picture
Booted Eagle Range, Info, Pix, and Song, Info and Song
Bonelli's Eagle Range, Pic 1, Pics and Info, Pic 2, Pics and Info
Eurasian Black Vulture Range, Pics
Lapped-faced Vulture Range, Pic 1, Pic 2
Bateleur - No map, but it's from the southern tip of Arabia and Yemen. Pic 1, Pic and Info, Pic and Info 2, Pic 3, Pic 4, Info and Pics
Eurasian Griffon Vulture Range, Pics and Info, Pics, Info and Song
Egyptian Vulture Range, Info and Pics, Info, Pics, and Song
Lammergeier Range, Picture A, Picture B, Info
European Honey Buzzard < H REF="http://digilander.libero.it/avifauna/w_palearctic/accipitridae.htm">Range, Pic, Pic from postal stamp, Info, Pics and Song
Common Buzzard Range, Song, Pic and Info, Pics, Pic, Pics, Info and Song
Long-legged Buzzard Range, Picture,
Rough-legged Buzzard Range, Pix, Info, and song, Pics and Info