The book's premise originated as a partnership between Black Canary and Barbara Gordon, who had adopted the codename Oracle at the time, but has expanded to include additional superheroines.

[1] The group is initially based in Gotham City and later operates in Metropolis and then relocates once more to "Platinum Flats", California, a new locale introduced in Birds of Prey in 2008.

[6] The core of the team is made up of Oracle, who serves as the leader of the group, Huntress and Black Canary, with other heroines forming a rotating roster sometimes for extended periods, sometimes for merely one adventure.

Following the events of Flashpoint (2011) and the company-wide relaunch as part of The New 52, Oracle recovers her mobility and reclaims her former Batgirl identity, taking a brief hiatus from the team in the process.

In her first arc, entitled "Of Like Minds", Simone let Black Canary walk into a trap set by Brian Durlin, known as Savant, and his assistant Creote.

Author Simone commented on the new lineup, saying that each character provided a foil for the two others: "In this case, Babs and Dinah respect each other tremendously, and each is capable of great things the other is not.

Without any form of due process, two federal agents imply they believe she is the Oracle and that if any evidence is brought to light she will be tried for treason against the United States of America.

In the final issue of the storyline, the Huntress realizes Oracle has been manipulating her psychologically to make her "behave" properly, in the same way a teacher attempts to reform a troubled child.

She let Black Canary leave the team with her ward, a little girl called "Sin", and used a prison break arc to introduce superhumanly strong Big Barda, pacifist Judomaster and rascally Misfit into the new squad, and with the new Spy Smasher as an ambiguous Jack Bauer-like anti-heroine and Lois Lane cornering Oracle into almost giving away her secret identity.

Bedard wanted to mix the concept of 21st century white collar crime with 1930s mob families and said that Oracle is his favorite Birds of Prey character.

[18] DC canceled the series in February 2009, with the Oracle: The Cure mini-series beginning publication the following month as part of a company-wide reorganization of Batman-related titles.

In July, writer Marc Andreyko and artist Billy Tucci took over the title for the final story-arc, which featured the original Black Canary and Phantom Lady.

Dinah approaches her old friend with an offer to join the new Birds of Prey team she is putting together, but she declines, instead suggesting that Katana take her place.

Following the departure of Poison Ivy after issue #12, the team roster changed again when Katana spun off into her own solo book along with providing her services to the Justice League of America.

[28] In June 2023, it was announced that a new Birds of Prey ongoing series would launch on September 6, 2023 as a part of the Dawn of DC relaunch initiative.

The initial line up for the first arc is set to be composed of Black Canary, Cassandra Cain / Batgirl, Big Barda, Zealot, and Harley Quinn.

The Birds of Prey appear in a self-titled film,[33][34][35][36][37][38] consisting of Dinah Lance (portrayed by Jurnee Smollett-Bell), Helena Bertinelli / Huntress (Mary Elizabeth Winstead), and Renee Montoya (Rosie Perez).

[39][40][41][42] Additionally, Harley Quinn (portrayed by Margot Robbie) and Cassandra Cain (Ella Jay Basco) appear as temporary allies before they part ways with the trio on good terms.