Birds of prey in California: A guide to the state's hawks, eagles, falcons, vultures and owls

California's official bird list includes 45 birds of prey: three vultures, the Osprey, 20 hawks, eagles and kites, seven falcons and 14 owls. Ten of them are rarities that the California Bird Records Committee reviews one sighting at a time, which leaves 35 that occur regularly. The California Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW) counts "over 30 species of raptors that inhabit California at some point in their life cycle," and every one of them is protected under state law.

Some birds of prey in California are easy to see in any month. The red-tailed hawk lives in almost every habitat from the lowest valleys to the highest mountains, and the great horned owl and barn owl are common year-round residents. Others are here only for part of the year: the osprey arrives on its northern California nesting lakes in March and leaves in October, while the ferruginous hawk and rough-legged hawk come down from the north for the winter. A few are rare enough to be listed as endangered, including the great gray owl, which lives in the Sierra Nevada near wet meadows. The California condor came back from 27 birds in captivity in 1987 to 216 in California's wild flocks at the end of 2025.

This guide lists each regularly occurring bird of prey with when it is in California and its legal status. It then covers eagles, hawks, falcons, owls and vultures in turn, with links to our individual species guides. It is part of our guide to the birds of California.

Birds of prey in California: 45 species on the official state list:

Raptors fall into four groups on the state checklist. The New World vultures (three species) include the turkey vulture and California condor. The Osprey, hawks, eagles and kites (21 species) include the red-tailed hawk, Cooper's hawk, white-tailed kite and both eagles. The falcons and caracaras (seven species) include the American kestrel, merlin, peregrine falcon and prairie falcon. The owls (14 species) run from the barn owl and great horned owl to the tiny flammulated owl and northern pygmy-owl.

The 10 rarities are the black vulture, swallow-tailed kite, white-tailed eagle, common black hawk, gray hawk, crested caracara, Eurasian kestrel, gyrfalcon, snowy owl and elf owl. The elf owl is a special case. It is a review species because it is so seldom seen, and it is also listed as endangered by the state. CDFW's habitat account describes it as a very rarely seen spring and summer resident of the Colorado River Valley.

California birds of prey by season: 35 regularly recorded raptors:

The table lists every bird of prey on the state checklist that is not a review species. The season column condenses CDFW's California Wildlife Habitat Relationships life-history account for each species. Status reflects CDFW's July 2026 list of listed animals, the fully protected birds in Fish and Game Code section 3511 and CDFW's raptor Species of Special Concern.

"Protected raptor" means the bird has no listing but is covered by the state's general protections for birds of prey (Fish and Game Code sections 3503, 3503.5 and 3513) and, for native species, by the federal Migratory Bird Treaty Act. Sources: CBRC checklist (September 8, 2026); CDFW California Wildlife Habitat Relationships accounts; CDFW listed-animals list (July 2026); CDFW Raptors of California.

Eagles in California: Bald eagles, golden eagles and the laws that protect both:

California has two eagles, and both are fully protected under state law, which means they may not be taken or possessed at any time apart from narrow exceptions such as recovery research. Both are also covered by the federal Bald and Golden Eagle Protection Act.

The bald eagle has the more dramatic history. By the late 1960s and early 1970s, fewer than 30 nesting pairs remained in California, all in the northern third of the state, according to CDFW. The pesticide DDT was poisoning the birds and thinning their eggshells. It was banned in the United States in 1972, and the eagle recovered enough that the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service removed it from the federal endangered species list on August 8, 2007. It remains listed as endangered in California. Today most breeding territories are in northern California. Eagles also nest in scattered locations in the central and southern Sierra Nevada, at several sites from the central Coast Ranges to inland Southern California and on Santa Catalina Island. In winter, hundreds of migratory bald eagles from the northwestern states and Canada join the resident pairs at lakes, reservoirs and rivers across most of the state.

The golden eagle is the more widespread of the two but the less studied. Most California golden eagles stay in the state year-round, and some migrate in for the winter, CDFW says. They live in rolling foothills, mountains, canyons, shrublands, grasslands and oak woodland, nest on cliffs or in large trees and hunt mainly rabbits, hares and rodents. CDFW describes golden eagle abundance in California as unknown. Threats it lists include loss of foraging and nesting habitat, lead and pesticide poisoning and collisions with structures such as wind turbines.

Hawks in California: Red-tailed, red-shouldered, Cooper's and Swainson's hawks:

The red-tailed hawk is the hawk most Californians know. CDFW's habitat account calls it a common, permanent breeding and winter resident and migrant that breeds throughout California and occurs in almost all habitats. The red-shouldered hawk is a year-round resident along the length of the coast and in the Central Valley, in low-elevation riparian woodland. The Cooper's hawk, a woodland hunter, is mostly a year-round resident of the wooded parts of the state.

The Swainson's hawk is the state's listed hawk. The Fish and Game Commission listed it as threatened in 1983 because of habitat loss and declining numbers, according to CDFW. CDFW cites a historic estimate of as many as 17,136 pairs and a 1980 estimate of 375 breeding pairs. A 2005 statewide survey estimated 2,081 breeding pairs, which CDFW says is "still far below" the historic figure. The hawk breeds in California and winters in South America as far south as Argentina. It forages in grassland and, increasingly, in alfalfa and other crop fields.

Winter brings hawks from the north. The ferruginous hawk generally arrives in September and leaves by mid-April, and the rough-legged hawk usually arrives in October or November. Both favor open grassland and farmland. The Harris's hawk, a desert species, was extirpated from California in the 1960s. Nearly 200 were released along the lower Colorado River in the 1980s, and CDFW's account now describes it as a rare year-round resident of the southern Salton Sea and the Imperial Valley.

Falcons in California: Peregrine falcon recovery and the state's other falcons:

The peregrine falcon followed the same path as the bald eagle. It was listed as endangered under the federal Endangered Species Act in 1970 and under California's in 1971, after DDT caused widespread nesting failures. By 1975 there were only about 324 known pairs in the United States, CDFW records. After DDT was banned and captive breeding and release programs began, the population recovered. The falcon was removed from the federal list in 1999 and from the state list in 2009, and CDFW has now documented more than 400 breeding pairs in California. Peregrines nest on cliffs and also on tall buildings and bridges in cities.

The American kestrel, the smallest falcon, is a common resident throughout California, joined in winter by birds from the north. The prairie falcon is an uncommon year-round resident from the southeastern deserts through the Central Valley, the inner Coast Ranges and the Sierra Nevada, though not at its highest elevations. The merlin is an uncommon winter visitor from September to May.

Owls in California: 14 species from the barn owl to the great gray owl:

Fourteen owls are on the state list, and 12 are regular. The great horned owl is a common, permanent resident throughout the state from sea level to about 7,000 feet. The barn owl is a common year-round resident of open habitats, often near towns, and does not migrate. The western screech-owl is another year-round owl that tolerates people and lives in towns, suburbs and farms as well as oak and riparian woodland.

Several owls are at risk:

• Burrowing owl. A small owl that nests and roosts in underground burrows, usually dug by ground squirrels. The Fish and Game Commission made the western burrowing owl a candidate for listing under the California Endangered Species Act in October 2024, and it was still a candidate on CDFW's July 2026 list. CDFW says the owl is now most abundant in the Imperial Valley and parts of the Central Valley.
• Great gray owl. Listed as endangered in California since 1980. CDFW's habitat account describes it as a rarely seen resident of the Sierra Nevada, from around Quincy in Plumas County south to the Yosemite region, always near wet meadows.
• Spotted owl. The northern spotted owl, found in northern California as far south as Marin County, has been federally threatened since 1990. The Fish and Game Commission approved listing it as threatened under state law in 2016, CDFW says. Two populations of the California spotted owl, in the Sierra Nevada and in coastal and Southern California, were proposed for federal listing in February 2023 and were still proposed on CDFW's July 2026 list.

The barred owl is the newcomer in that story. Native to eastern North America, it has spread west into the range of both spotted owls. CDFW says it was first detected in California in 1976, while CDFW's older habitat account dates the first confirmed detections, in Del Norte and Trinity counties, to 1981. CDFW now has nearly 2,000 barred owl records, and the research it cites shows barred owls displacing northern spotted owls and lowering their survival. In August 2024 the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service adopted a strategy to remove barred owls from areas of Washington, Oregon and California where they threaten spotted owls. At maximum, it would remove less than half of 1% of the North American barred owl population each year.

Vultures in California: The turkey vulture and the California condor:

The turkey vulture is common across most of California in the breeding season. Some winter along the coast, but most of the population migrates for the winter, mostly to Central America, and large flocks gather along traditional migration routes in autumn.

The California condor is one of the largest flying birds in the world, with wings that spread more than nine feet, and it is the state's most famous recovery story. In April 1987 the last wild condor was captured, and the world population was 27 birds, all in captive breeding programs. Captive-bred condors were first released in 1992. At the end of 2025 the world population was 607, according to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's 2025 status report, and 216 condors were flying free in California: 99 in the Southern California flock and 117 in Central California. The condor is listed as endangered under both state and federal law and is fully protected.

Protected birds of prey in California: State and federal law:

Every bird of prey in California is protected. Fish and Game Code section 3503.5 makes it unlawful "to take, possess, or destroy any birds in the orders Falconiformes or Strigiformes (birds-of-prey) or to take, possess, or destroy the nest or eggs of any such bird" except as the code or its regulations allow. CDFW's raptor page also cites section 3503 (nests and eggs of all birds), section 3505 and section 3513, which protects every bird on the federal Migratory Bird Treaty Act list. Four raptors are fully protected under section 3511: the California condor, golden eagle, southern bald eagle and white-tailed kite.

At the federal level, the native raptors in this guide are covered by the Migratory Bird Treaty Act, and bald and golden eagles have their own federal law. Keeping a raptor for falconry requires a CDFW falconry license.

Birds of prey in California: Where the facts in this guide come from:

The list of birds of prey in California in this guide is the CBRC's official state checklist, filtered to vultures, hawks, eagles, kites, the Osprey, falcons and owls. When each bird is in California comes from CDFW's California Wildlife Habitat Relationships accounts. Many of those were written decades ago and updated only in part, so we use them for seasons and broad ranges, not population counts. Population figures come from current CDFW and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service sources, and legal status comes from the Fish and Game Code and CDFW's July 2026 list. Where two CDFW sources differ, such as the year barred owls reached California, we give both. Our individual guides cover each species in more depth, and this list grows as each one is published.