Birds: Crested Caracara
Driving across the vast farmlands and wide plantations of central Florida, we were headed west on the BeeLine Highway, south of Disney World in Orlando. Early morning, we spotted a bird flying about 10 feet off the ground, effortlessly gliding in a flat line. It ever-so-quickly stopped, landing on a fence post by the side of the road. It’s flight pattern looked like a falcon, yet its head seemed more colorful and larger, like a hawk. We pulled the car over and I got a good look through my binoculars at the new-to-me bird. Resorting to a bird book, when we arrived at our destination, the bird turned out to be a Crested Caracara.
A member of the Falcon family, we had it partially right, but there were some very distinctive physical features that made the Caracara special: it’s beak, face, eyes, crest, wing markings and talons. This bird was unique, as if designed by a make-up artist from Disney, rather than by the progress of evolution.
Starting with the obvious, the beak was blue, swimming pool blue, which was the first feature that we noticed. The curved tip of the beak looked like the hook of a raptor or osprey. Also the facial feathers were mostly gone, revealing an orange-red-yellow skin tone, reminiscent of a vulture. The feathers seemed to have been evolutionarily removed to allow these birds of prey to stick their heads into the carcass of their carrion and easily shed any vermin.
And those brown eyes: they seemed to look right through you, as if peering into the eyes of a family cat. The feathers in its dark crest were not sticking up, at the time, and resembled the slicked back, black hair on a teenager. And the white and rust feathers below the orange-red-yellow face looked like a neck beard on a graying hippie. Visually scanning down the head, it wasn’t until the buff and black bands around the throat and torso of the bird that the growth looked like real feathers.
Some birders feel that the Caracara has a “mood-ring face:” meaning that the bare skin on its face depending on the angle of sight shifts colors, from orange-red to yellow. The skin is thought to reflect moods of excitement or stress.
Another distinctive feature was the falcon’s legs and talons. The legs were yellow-orange, the color of chicken legs, and the talons were dark and menacing. It was easy to imagine whose talons picking up an unsuspecting rodent or fish for its next meal.
The flashiest parts of the bird were the wing tips and tail feathers, which were striped black against the dominant white. The wings and tail were surprisingly flashy for a bird that one might assume wants to sneak up on it’s prey. Not so, this falcon seemed all about “The Show.”
Working in Camas, Washington, at the time with a flashy dressed and brilliant woman named Cara Denver. I once joked that she should be called “Caracara,” as if saying her name once were not enough. No one else at the firm got the joke, so it died the moment after I said it. Oh well.
Interesting Facts
South of the Border there are stories of folklore and legends about the Caracara. It is sometimes called the Mexican Eagle, though one is more likely to see the bird with other carrion eaters, like the Turkey Vulture, than catching fish, like the Osprey. Some historians argue the Caracara was the bird in the Aztec founding legend now shown on Mexico’s flag (the official version is a golden eagle).
According to Cornell Labs, the Crested Caracara is the only falcon that collects material to build a nest. Apparently other falcons lay their eggs in old nests made by other species or in a scrape on the ground.[1]
Although the Caracara is technically a falcon, it spends much of its time walking on the ground on long legs, scavenging carrion alongside vultures. It’s often the boss at a carcass, bullying vultures away. It eats almost anything: roadkill, insects, turtles, fish, small mammals, eggs, and nestlings. It follows tractors and wildfires to grab fleeing prey, and, similar to the Bald Eagle, it will chase other birds (vultures, pelicans, hawks) to steal their food.
And its call? Birders call it a “head-throw display.” When the Caracara is calling, it tips its head all the way back until the crown touches its back and gives a harsh rattle. The name “caracara” is often said to imitate the bird’s call.
The geographic range of this falcon runs from the southern U.S. through Mexico and Central America and down through most of South America to Tierra del Fuego and the Falkland Islands. In the U.S. it’s found mainly in Texas, southern Arizona, and central Florida. The Florida population is an isolated relict, likely left from a drier era, and is federally listed as threatened due to habitat loss from development.
Birders will have to keep your eyes out for these not-so-shy birds, as they often are either at the top of a tree on the perimeter fences or even walking on the ground. It favors prairies, savannas, ranchland, desert scrub, and pastures rather than dense forest, and it does well on cattle ranches.
One may never know when the Crested Caracara will float by in full view.
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[1] https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Crested_Caracara/overview
