| Photo Information |
Copyright: Luis Vargas (Chiza)
![Silver Star Critiquer/Gold Note Writer [C: 34 W: 0 N: 197]](http://i1.treknature.com/misc/s-n-g.gif) (964) |
| Genre: Animals |
| Medium: Color |
| Date Taken: 2009-08-23 |
| Categories: Birds |
| Exposure: f/5.6, 1/500 seconds |
| More Photo Info: [view] |
| Photo Version: Original Version |
| Date Submitted: 2009-08-28 19:56 |
| Viewed: 351 |
| Points: 4 |
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| [Note Guidelines] Photographer's Note [Spanish] |
Northern Caracara
From Wikipedia
Conservation status
Least Concern (IUCN 3.1)[1]
Scientific classification
Kingdom:Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Aves
Order: Falconiformes
Family: Falconidae
Subfamily: Polyborinae
Genus: Caracara
Species: C. cheriway
Binomial name
Polyborus cheriway
Polyborus plancus cheriway
Caracara plancus cheriway
Polyborus tharus[2]
The Northern Caracara or Northern Crested Caracara (Caracara cheriway), called Audubon's Caracara in former times, is a bird of prey in the family Falconidae. It was formerly considered conspecific with the Southern Caracara (C. plancus) and the extinct Guadalupe Caracara (C. lutosa) as the "Crested Caracara" – a name still commonly used for the Northern Caracara.[3][4][5] As its relatives, the Northern Caracara was formerly placed in the genus Polyborus. Unlike the Falco falcons in the same family, the caracaras are not fast-flying aerial hunters, but are rather sluggish and often scavengers.
Distribution
The Northern Caracara is a resident in Cuba, northern South America (south to northern Peru and northern Amazonian Brazil, especially along the Amazon River proper) and most of Central America and Mexico, just reaching the southernmost parts of the United States, including Florida, where it is resident but listed as threatened. There have been reports of the Crested Caracara as far north as San Francisco, California.[6] South of the US border, it is generally common. This is a bird of open and semi-open country.
Description
The mottled breast and pinkish-purple facial skin and cere are typical of immatures
At Brevard Zoo, Florida
The Northern Caracara has a length of 49–58 cm (19–23 in), a wingspan of 120 cm (47 in), and weighs 1,050–1,300 g (37–46 oz).[7] It is broad-winged and long-tailed. It also has long legs and frequently walks and runs on the ground. It is very cross-shaped in flight. The adult has a black body, wings, crest and crown. The neck, rump, and conspicuous wing patches are white, and the tail is white with black barring and a broad terminal band. The breast is white, finely barred with black. The bill is thick, grey and hooked, and the legs are yellow. The cere and facial skin are deep yellow to orange-red depending on age and mood. Sexes are similar, but immature birds browner, have a buff neck and throat, a pale breast streaked/mottled with brown, greyish-white legs and greyish or dull pinkish-purple facial skin and cere. The voice of this species is a low rattle.
Adults can be separated from the similar Southern Caracara by their less extensive and more spotty barring to the chest, more uniform blackish scapulars (brownish and often lightly mottled/barred in Southern), and blackish lower back (pale with dark barring in Southern). Individuals showing intermediate features are known from the small area of contact in north-central Brazil, but intergradation between the two species is generally limited.
Behavior
The Northern Caracara is an omnivorous scavenger, favoring carrion, but will also eat small mammals, amphibians, reptiles, fish, crabs, insects, earthworms, and young birds. In addition to hunting its own food on the ground, the Northern Caracara will steal from other birds. Northern Caracaras build large stick nests in trees such as mesquites and palms, cacti, or on the ground as a last resort.[8] It lays 2 to 3 pinky-brown eggs with darker blotches, which are incubated for 28-32 days.[9] |
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