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Crested Caracara

Caracara cheriwayOrder: FALCONIFORMESFamily: Falcons (Falconidae)

Crested Caracara Portrait
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General

Crested Caracara: Large, ground-dwelling falcon with black body and finely barred tail, wing panels and upper breast. Head crest is black, facial skin is red, and large bill is blue-gray and hooked. Legs are long and yellow. Sexes are similar. Juvenile has brown-streaked upper half of body and white-spotted wings.

Range and Habitat

Crested Caracara: Found from Baja California to eastern Texas, south to Panama. Preferred habitats include prairies, savannas, desert scrub, and seashores.

Listen to Call

Voice Text

"wick-wick-wick-wick-querrr"

Interesting Facts

  • A common subject of folklore and legends throughout Central and South America, the Crested Caracara is sometimes referred to as the “Mexican eagle.”
  • Although it looks like a long-legged hawk and associates with vultures, it is actually in the same family as falcons.
  • A group of falcons has many collective nouns, including a "bazaar", "eyrie", "ringing up", "stooping up", and "tower" of falcons.


Author

Gary Owen Dick

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Range Map for Crested Caracara
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Bird Call Credits: The Macaulay Library of Natural Sounds at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology. Martyn Stewart, http://www.naturesound.org, Redmond, Washington USA. The reuse or copying of bird calls in this database is strictly forbidden.
Family
Species Caracara cheriway
Length20 - 25 Inches
Wingspan46.5 Inches

Crested Caracara

Crested Caracara: Large, ground-dwelling falcon, black body, finely barred tail, wing panels and upper breast. Head crest is black, facial skin is red, and large bill is blue-gray and hooked. Legs are long and yellow. Strong steady wing beats alternated with long to short glides. Soars on thermals.

● Song: "wick-wick-wick-wick-querrr"

● Foraging & Feeding: Crested Caracara: Diet includes carrion, small turtles, turtle eggs, fish, insects, frogs, lizards, snakes, small birds, and small mammals. When pursuing larger prey, a pair sometimes works together; has been observed feeding on carrion with vultures.

● Breeding & nesting: Crested Caracara: One to four brown marked, white or light pink eggs are laid in a bulky nest made of vines and sticks, usually built in a cabbage palm tree. Eggs are incubated for 32 days by both parents.

● Similar species: Crested Caracara: Black Vulture lacks head crest, red face, and barred breast and tail.

Flight Pattern

Strong steady deep wing beats., Often alternates series of wing beats with long to short glides., Sometimes soars on thermals.
Crested-Caracara Body Illustration
● Range & Habitat: Crested Caracara: Found from Baja California to eastern Texas, south to Panama. Preferred habitats include prairies, savannas, desert scrub, and seashores.
BreedingMonogamous, Solitary nester
PopulationDeclining, Fairly common to rare
MigrationNonmigratory
Weight33.6 Ounces