Different types of hawks are members of the buteo or accipiter families. Raptors have large, powerful feet with sharp curved talons, hooked upper beaks and sharp eyesight. Raptors are important because they help control animal populations and are an integral part of keeping natural systems in balance. If raptor prey such as mice, rabbits, rats and prairie dogs become too abundant, they can damage crops and lands and transmit diseases to humans, domestic livestock and pets. Raptors help to prevent prey population explosions that can lead to habitat problems.
Raptors are also important environmental barometers.
Since raptors feed at the top of nature's food pyramid, their population provides a good indicator of the underlying health of natural ecosystems. Like the canaries kept in coal mines to indicate poisonous air-quality for miners, eagles and other raptor populations provided the first indication that pesticides were entering food and reproductive cycles in damaging ways. Raptor populations have increased when the use of particular toxins is curtailed. Threats to raptors As with all wildlife, loss of habitat is the most significant problem facing raptors. While raptors are able to migrate and some can adapt in certain urban environments, the continued loss of areas to human use is putting pressure on many species.