Some Interesting Facts About the Crested Caracara:
o Put onto the Endangered Species List in August, 1987.
o Also known as the Mexican Eagle, Mexican Buzzard, and Audubon's Caracara.
o The genus and species name of the crested caracara changed from Polyborus to Caracara. The reason for this change was because the generic name, Caracara, has been found to have been published validly and had received substantial use in literature, predating the generic name Polyborus.
Perception Channels: visual ; tactile ; acoustic ; chemical
Due to the drastic decrease in habitat, the caracara population has plummeted. The development of citrus groves, tree plantations, improved pastures, and other commercial and agricultural uses are destroying the caracara's natural habitat. Also, the increase amount of traffic in the caracara's natural habitat has resulted in many birds being hit by automobiles. Another significant factor into the decline of the caracara population is the fact that they have a low reproductive rate and face a small gene pool.
Many caracaras live on private lands in Florida, a few wandering to the east into Cape Canaveral and Merritt Island. Some pairs are being monitored on Federal Land, the Air Force's Avon Park bombing range in Polk and Highlands County.
US Federal List: endangered
CITES: no special status
IUCN Red List of Threatened Species: no special status
There is not any documented evidence that Caracara cheriway hinders the human economy.
There is not any documented evidence that Caracara cheriway benefits humans economically.
The caracara is an opportunistic feeder, its diet consists of both carrion and living prey. The living prey is usually small turtles, turtle eggs, fish, insects, frogs, lizard, snakes, small birds, and some small mammals. Sometimes, when trying to capture a larger animal, pairs will unite their forces. Caracaras have also been observed eating with vultures.
Caracaras are present along the Mexican - American Border, from Baja California to Eastern Texas, then south to Panama. There are also isolated populations in Cuba, the Isle of Pines, Louisiana, and in Central Florida
The crested caracaras are birds of open countryside. Their typical habitats are either comprised of dry prairie with some wetter areas or agricultural environments. Caracaras spread themselves thinly over a wide area, with each pair maintaining a large territory.
Terrestrial Biomes: savanna or grassland
Range lifespan
Status: wild: 25.8 (high) years.
Average lifespan
Status: wild: 211 months.
The crested caracara is about the same size as an osprey, but it has shorter wings. It has a length of approximately 53 to 58 centimeters, with a wingspan of approximately 1.2 meters. Caracaras can be identified by thier long yellow legs, and their large, hooked, bluish bill. Caracaras have black crowns and crests, with red facial skin. Thier tails are banded, alternating black and white, with a wide black terminal band. The ends of the primaries and at the base of the neck are also banded. Immature birds appear similar, but their coloring is duller overall. Both sexes of the birds are similarily plumaged.
Other Physical Features: endothermic ; bilateral symmetry
Bonds between adult caracaras are strong, persisting until one of the mates dies. Together, the pair of caracaras will maintain a large territory. The nesting site is usually in a cabbage palm tree, and the nest is a bulky structure made with slender vines and sticks. The breeding season for caracaras is from January to March, and the usual clutch being two or three eggs. Incubation is about 32 days, and the young do not leave the nest until they are at least eight weekes old. The family of caracaras can be observed together for at least three months after the young fledge. There is usually only one brood, but two are not unusual.
Key Reproductive Features: iteroparous ; gonochoric/gonochoristic/dioecious (sexes separate); sexual ; oviparous
The Northern Crested Caracara (Caracara cheriway), also called the Northern Caracara, Crested Caracara or Audubon’s Caracara, is a non-migratory, diurnal, neotropical bird of prey in the family Falconidae. It has a characteristic crest, strong banding on its chest, and long legs.Common especially in arid open country in Northern South America as far south as Central Brazil and Central Peru, throughout Central America, Cuba, and much of Mexico, the Northern Crested Caracara is also resident in the United States in southern parts of Texas, Arizona and Florida (an isolated population thought to be a relic from the ice ages).
The closely related Southern Caracara (C. plancus) and the extinct Guadalupe Caracara (C. lutosa) were previously lumped together with C. cheriway as a single species but the three species have since been split.While the range of the southern South American C. plancus does overlap with that of C. cheriway, only limited interbreeding occurs.
Like vultures, the Northern Crested Caracara generally scavenges for its food, eating mostly carrion, but also is an opportunist hunter of injured or young small mammals, birds, reptiles, amphibians and invertebrates.It frequently is found with vultures at a food source, but is dominant to them and will chase them from a roadkill or other carrion.They will steal food from other birds.Unlike other falcons, Crested Caracaras fly low to the ground and hunt mainly by hopping along on foot, usually alone or in family groups up to five birds.Adults maintain a home range averaging about 1500 hectares, but juveniles can be nomadic and found in larger congregations.
The Federal Government and Florida State have listed the Florida population as threatened in recognition of decline to an estimated 500 individuals, due primarily to habitat loss.Other US populations have experienced significant decline in the past but appear to have stabilized (with the caveat that it is difficult to census population numbers).Changes in land use that increase pasture and some agricultural land sometimes benefit the Crested Caracara.However these birds are vulnerable to hunting, trapping and poisoning as their scavenging habits are widely considered undesirable. Habitat decline is still a real factor in their survival as human populations increase and land is converted from prairie and pasture to housing developments and agriculture with tree farms or orchards.Crested Caracaras are also reportedly affected by increasing traffic due to the fact that they spend much time on road-side carrion.
(BirdLife International 2012; Cornell Lab of Ornithology Staff 2011; Morrison 1996; Morrison 2001; Morrison and Dwyer 2012; US Fish and Wildlife Service; Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission; Wikipedia 2013)
The crested caracara (Caracara plancus) is a bird of prey in the family Falconidae. It is found through Central and South America but has been found in northern Minnesota to Tierra del Fuego. It was formerly placed in the genus Polyborus.
The crested caracara has a total length of 50–65 cm (20–26 in) and a wingspan of 120–132 cm (47–52 in). Its weight is 0.9–1.6 kg (2.0–3.5 lb), averaging 1,348 g (2.972 lb) in seven birds from Tierra del Fuego.[3][4] Individuals from the colder southern part of its range average larger than those from tropical regions (as predicted by Bergmann's rule) and are the largest type of caracara. In fact, they are the second-largest species of falcon in the world by mean body mass, second only to the gyrfalcon.[4] The cap, belly, thighs, most of the wings, and tail tip are dark brownish, the auriculars (feathers surrounding the ear), throat, and nape are whitish-buff, and the chest, neck, mantle, back, upper tail coverts, crissum (the undertail coverts surrounding the cloaca), and basal part of the tail are whitish-buff barred dark brownish. In flight, the outer primaries show a large conspicuous whitish-buff patch ('window'), as in several other species of caracaras. The legs are yellow and the bare facial skin and cere are deep yellow to reddish-orange. Juveniles resemble adults, but are paler, with streaking on the chest, neck, and back, grey legs, and whitish, later pinkish-purple, facial skin and cere.
Eggs, MHNT
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Juvenile
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Young adult
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Adult
A bold, opportunistic raptor, the crested caracara is often seen walking around on the ground looking for food. It mainly feeds on carcasses of dead animals, but steals food from other raptors, raids bird and reptile[5] nests, and takes live prey if the possibility arises (mostly insects or other small prey [such as small mammals, small birds, amphibians, reptiles, fish, crabs, other shellfish, maggots, and worms],[6][7][8] but at least up to the size of a snowy egret). It may also eat fruit. It is dominant over the black and turkey vulture at carcasses. It also pirates food from them and from buteos, as well as from brown pelicans, ibises, and spoonbills, chasing and harrying until they regurgitate or drop food.[9] The crested caracara takes live prey that has been flushed by wildfire, cattle, and farming equipment. Locally, it has even learnt to follow trains or cars for food thrown out.[10] The opportunistic nature of this species means that the crested caracara seeks out the phenomena associated with its food, e.g. wildfires and circling vultures.[11] It is typically solitary, but several individuals may gather at a large food source (e.g. dumps). Breeding takes place in the Southern Hemisphere spring/summer in the southern part of its range, but timing is less strict in warmer regions. The nest is a large, open structure, typically placed on the top of a tree or palm, but sometimes on the ground. The typical clutch size is two eggs.
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Young adult, showing the distinctive light 'windows' in the wings
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Adult
Being mobbed by a fork-tailed flycatcher
Young adult perched on a cactus, Bonaire, BES Islands
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Northern crested caracara (Caracara plancus cheriway), Attwater Prairie Chicken National Wildlife Refuge, Colorado County, Texas, USA
An immature bird surveying the surroundings in Texas, USA
An adult in Panama Viejo, Panama foraging for food.
The crested caracara occurs from Tierra del Fuego in southernmost South America to the southern United States, Mexico, and Central America. An isolated population occurs on the Falkland Islands. It avoids the Andean highlands and dense humid forest, such as the Amazon rainforest, where it is largely restricted to relatively open sections along major rivers. Otherwise, it occurs in virtually any open or semi-open habitat and is often found near humans.
Reports have been made of the crested caracara as far north as San Francisco, California.[12] and, in 2012, near Crescent City, California.[13] Some are believed to possibly be living in Nova Scotia, with numerous sightings throughout the 2010s.[14] In July 2016 a northern caracara was reported and photographed by numerous people in the upper peninsula of Michigan, just outside of Munising.[15][16][17] In June 2017, a northern caracara was sighted far north in St. George, New Brunswick, Canada.[18] A specimen was photographed in Woodstock, Vermont in March 2020. The species has recently become more common in central and north Texas and is generally common in south Texas and south of the US border. It can also be found (nesting) in the Southern Caribbean (e.g. Aruba, Curaçao and Bonaire), Mexico, and Central America.
Florida is home to a relict population of northern caracaras that dates to the last glacial period, which ended around 12,500 BP. At that time, Florida and the rest of the Gulf Coast were covered in an oak savanna. As temperatures increased, the savanna between Florida and Texas disappeared.[19] Caracaras were able to survive in the prairies of central Florida and the marshes along the St. Johns River. Cabbage palmettos are a preferred nesting site, although they also nest in southern live oaks.[20] Their historical range on the modern-day Florida peninsula included Okeechobee, Osceola, Highlands, Glades, Polk, Indian River, St. Lucie, Hardee, DeSoto, Brevard, Collier, and Martin counties.[21] They are currently most common in DeSoto, Glades, Hendry, Highlands, Okeechobee, and Osceola Counties.[22] It has been seen on the East Coast as far as extreme eastern Seminole County, Florida (Lake Harney), where it is now considered a resident, but listed as threatened. In February 2023 a crested caracara was identified in St, Johns County, Florida and documented by The St. Johns County Audubon Society on their social media page.
Mexican ornithologist Rafael Martín del Campo proposed that the northern caracara was possibly the sacred "eagle" depicted in several pre-Columbian Aztec codices, as well as the Florentine Codex. This imagery was adopted as a national symbol of Mexico, but it is not the bird depicted on the flag, which is a golden eagle (Aquila chrysaetos), the national bird.[23]
Balduin Möllhausen, the German artist accompanying the 1853 railroad survey (led by Lt. Amiel Weeks Whipple) from the Canadian River to California along the 35th parallel, recounted observing what he called the "Texan Eagle", which, in his account, he identified as Audubon's Polyborus vulgaris. This sighting occurred in the Sans Bois Mountains in southeastern Oklahoma.[24] Many Texans incorrectly refer to the caracara as the “Mexican eagle”.[25]
Throughout most of its range, its occurrence is common to very common. It is likely to benefit from the widespread deforestation in tropical South America, so is considered to be of least concern by BirdLife International.
The crested caracara (Caracara plancus) is a bird of prey in the family Falconidae. It is found through Central and South America but has been found in northern Minnesota to Tierra del Fuego. It was formerly placed in the genus Polyborus.
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