CRESTED CARACARA GALLERY
(Caracara cheriway)

Description of the Crested Caracara from the eBird site:  Large, distinctive raptor with long legs and long neck. Note its dark cap, red face, pale head, and dark body. Prefers open areas, where it flies low over arid and scrubby lowlands searching roadsides for carrion and prey. Feeds mainly on lizards and snakes. Widespread from Mexico to northern South America; less common along southern edge of U.S.

Many Texans call the Crested Caracara a “Mexican Eagle”.  I had never seen one until, on the morning of April 9, 2020, I spotted a pair on my morning walk.  The two large birds were near the back pasture fence on J. D. Woodruff’s property at the end of Lakeview Trail in McQueeney.  I saw another pair at Warbler Woods Sanctuary in Cibolo  on the morning of April 16, 2020.  This pair was high up on a high line tower, near the Old Barn blind.

One of the Crested Caracara I saw on J.D. Woodruff's property (the old McQueeney Pottery) on the morning of April 9, 2020.
April 9, 2020, in a pasture at the end of Lakeview Trail in MQueeney, Texas.
April 16, 2020, at Warbler Woods Sanctuary in Cibolo, Texas. Taken with my Nikon P1000.

Some Crested Caracara “Cool Facts” from the All About Birds site…

  • A common subject of folklore and legends throughout Central and South America, the Crested Caracara is sometimes called the “Mexican eagle.”
  • Although it looks like a long-legged hawk the Crested Caracara is actually a falcon.
  • The Crested Caracara is the only falcon that collects material to build a nest. Other falcons lay their eggs in an old nest built by another species or in a scrape on the ground.
  • The oldest recorded Crested Caracara was at least 21 years, 9 months old when it was identified by its band in 2015 in Florida. It was first banded in the same state in 1994.