Don’t let their small size fool you: even tiny birds of prey are birds of prey, ones with the skills and speed to capture and kill. They’re cute with a capital C, but they’re not the birbs that you want to run into in a dark alley. At least, not if you’re a mouse.
Small but scrappy
It’s a common misconception that tiny, predatory birds are less capable than their larger kin, says Nicole Richardson, a raptor biologist with Birds Canada. “It’s astonishing to people how small some of them are, yet they’ll take the same prey that large raptors will take.” How tiny is tiny? Canada’s smallest falcon, the American kestrel, is about the size of a mourning dove, while our most minute hawk, the sharp-shinned, has blue jay-esque measurements. The wee Northern saw-whet owl, meanwhile, is about the size of an adult hand. A charming adult hand. “They’re absolutely adorable,” says Richardson. Canada’s official smallest owl, the Northern pygmy owl—it has a range in Alberta and B.C.—is even littler. But possibly ballsier. A Northern pygmy will go after prey up to three times its size. It’s even been known to attack chickens.
Built for the kill
Like all birds of prey, the smallest hawks, falcons, and owls have features that turn them into flying death machines: talons for seizing prey, sometimes in mid-air, in the case of the merlin; and sharp, hooked beaks, for tearing flesh. They also usually have strong eye-sight to clock prey from far away. And the saw-whet owl has an advantage in the hearing department: like many other nocturnal owls, it has offset ears. One is positioned higher in its skull than the other, which means that it can pinpoint precisely where a sound is coming from.
Hunting party time
Unlike owls, all falcons and hawks (along with eagles, kites, and ospreys), are strictly diurnal, meaning they only hunt during the day. But they all have their own preferences when it comes to hunting grounds, preferred prey, and typical take-down behaviour; this influences how their physical features have evolved. The sharp-shinned hawk, for example, hunts in the woods. “They need to perform quick manoeuvres around trees and move in tight spaces,” says Richardson. “So their wings are rounded. They’re similar in shape to a chickadee’s.” (A murdery chickadee.) Falcons have longer, pointed wings, helpful for hunting in open spaces and catching flying bird prey at high speeds. The merlin—it’s slightly larger than the kestrel—is especially skilled at this. Unlike peregrine falcons, which dive to snatch prey, merlins shoot after their prey like a horizontal rocket. “They’re super, super fast. Crazy fast,” says Richardson. They can hit speeds of more than 100 km/h in bursts, according to some reports.
Meat the worst one
The tiny bird that strikes fear in the hearts of any edible small creature isn’t a raptor at all. It’s a songbird: the shrike. “That’s a good one,” says Richardson. “Shrikes are especially ferocious.” Their nickname? The Butcher Birds. Canada’s two species are both slightly smaller than a robin. They’ll attack prey, and, if necessary, slam it into a solid object to stun it. Although they have hooked beaks, plus two “teeth” on the upper mandible for separating the vertebrae of their catch, shrikes don’t have talons. To make dismembering their victims easier, they impale them on a sharp twig or piece of wire fencing. More disturbing? Shrikes may have an evil genius-ness to them. There’s evidence to suggest that they’ll hide, then imitate the calls of other birds, possibly to lure the suckers to their grisly deaths. Shrikes will also sometimes fake injury to trick kind-hearted individuals into coming to their aid. Actually, no, they won’t. That was Ted Bundy.
This article was originally published in the Summer 2026 issue of Cottage Life.
Related Story Cottage Q&A: Why is this owl acting so odd?
Related Story Why moths are the unsung, nighttime pollinators of cottage country
Related Story Nature Scrapbook: Fireberry hawthorn