Northern Crested Caracara (Caracara cheriway)

Northern Crested Caracara Caracara plancus cheriway
(aka Northern Caracara)

Roraima, Brazil
July 2001

The Northern Crested Caracara is very similar to the nominate sub-species Southern Caracara (Caracara plancus plancus) the main visual difference being that the Northern Crested Caracara has more black on the lower back. A paper suggesting that the Crested Caracara is a separate species was presented by Dove & Banks in 1999 in the Wilson Bulletin 111(3): 330-339.

The Northern Crested Caracara is distributed from the southern USA to the north of South America (Colombia, Ecuador, northern Peru, Venezuela, Trinidad, the Guianas) and in Brazil to the north of and along the Amazon River.

In the narrow contact zone between the two sub-species along the Amazon river there are individual birds which show features of both sub-species.

Immature Northern Caracara, Roraima, Brazil, July 2001 - click for a larger image

They are found in open and semi-open country and is one of the few species to have benefited by the spread of ranching.

It is an opportunistic feeder, feeding mainly on carrion but also live small animals, nestlings, etc..

The third photo shows an immature bird with browner and streakier plumage. Notice that the face colour is pink rather than orange.

The following is a recording by Jeremy Minns in which each vocalization consists of two or three short introductory notes and then a long note, during which the bird bent its neck back till its head touched its back.

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