Which birds hunt mice? - briefly
Various raptors and some passerines capture mice, including barn owls, short‑eared owls, red‑tailed hawks, kestrels, American kestrels, northern harriers, shrikes, and meadowlarks.
Which birds hunt mice? - in detail
Birds that capture mice belong primarily to raptors and several adaptable passerines. Their predation relies on keen eyesight, swift flight, and talons or beaks capable of subduing small mammals.
- Accipiters – species such as the Cooper’s hawk (Accipiter cooperii) and sharp-shinned hawk (Accipiter striatus) pursue mice through dense cover, using rapid bursts of speed and precise strikes.
- Buteos – the red-tailed hawk (Buteo jamaicensis) and broad-winged hawk (Buteo platypterus) hunt from perches or low soaring, dropping onto rodents with powerful claws.
- Falcons – the American kestrel (Falco sparverius) and peregrine falcon (Falco peregrinus) catch mice on the wing or from ground ambushes, exploiting high acceleration.
- Owls – great horned owl (Bubo virginianus), barn owl (Tyto alba), and screech owls (Megascops spp.) employ silent flight and acute hearing to locate and seize mice at night.
- Corvids – common raven (Corvus corax) and American crow (Corvus brachyrhynchos) opportunistically seize mice, especially near human settlements.
- Shrikes – the loggerhead shrike (Lanius ludovicianus) impales captured mice on thorns or barbed wire, using a hooked bill to kill.
These birds share adaptations: strong, curved talons; sharp, hooked beaks; binocular vision for depth perception; and hunting strategies ranging from aerial pursuit to perch-and-pounce. Seasonal abundance of mice influences breeding timing and territory size, ensuring sufficient food for nestlings. Habitat flexibility varies: raptors favor open fields, forest edges, and cliffs, while corvids and shrikes thrive near agricultural lands and urban areas. Consequently, mouse predation occurs across a wide ecological spectrum, contributing to rodent population control.