Caracara (genus) explained

Caracara is a genus in the family Falconidae and the subfamily Polyborinae. It contains one extant species, the crested caracara, and one recently extinct species, the Guadalupe caracara. The crested caracara had in recent years been split into a northern species C. cheriway and a southern species C. plancus, but the South American Classification Committee of the American Ornithological Society has voted to again merge the two, retaining C. plancus as the crested caracara.^[1] The taxonomists of the International Ornithologists' Union have also merged them.^[2]

Appearance

The crested caracara is distinguished by its long legs and medium size.^[3] The birds can reach a length of from head to tail.^[4] There are usually four points of identification of the caracara: strikingly white markings on the neck, the tip of both wings, and the tail.^[5] Along with their medium length, the caracara also has a wingspan of .^[4] When flying, the caracara is often noted to have a pattern on their underside that looks like a cross.^[6]

Behavior

The behaviors of caracaras are considered quite strange in relation to those of other falcons.^[7] The bird is often seen walking on the ground in search of prey, using its long legs to maneuver its landscapes.^[8] In addition to a preference of walking over flying, the birds also create close bonds with their mates. Caracaras are territorial creatures who are year-round landlords of trees and land that they occupy. Their aggressiveness is an extension of this, which is why they have been seen taking food from much larger creatures like vultures.^{[9] [10]} In flight, this bird is known for having very direct flight. It does not soar for leisure.^[11]

Taxonomy and fossil record

The crested caracara is the only extant species in Caracara, and was formerly separated into two species, the northern and southern crested caracaras. The modern range includes Cuba, South America, most of Central America and Mexico, just reaching the southernmost parts of the United States, including Florida.

• †Guadalupe caracara (Caracara lutosa) – extinct (1900)

Native to Guadalupe Island off the west coast of Baja California, the Guadalupe caracara was hunted to extinction by 1906.

An additional six species have been described on the basis of fossil and subfossil records:

• †Caracara creightoni – Late Pleistocene (Cuba, The Bahamas)^[12]
• †Caracara latebrosus – Late Pleistocene (Puerto Rico)^[13]
• †Caracara major - Late Pleistocene (Uruguay)^[14]
• †Caracara prelutosus – Late Pleistocene (Rancho La Brea, San Miguel Island, California)^{[15] [16]}
• †Caracara seymouri – Late Pleistocene (Peru, Ecuador)^[17]
• †Caracara tellustris – Late Pleistocene (Jamaica)^[18]

An unnamed Late Pleistocene species of Caracara from Argentina was the largest falcon ever, with a minimum weight estimate of around 4.5kg (09.9lb).

Further reading

• Dove, C. & R. Banks. 1999. A Taxonomic study of Crested Caracaras (Falconidae). Wilson Bull. 111(3): 330–339.

External links

• Photo of crested caracara at Brazos Bend State Park, Texas : http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3389/3272960795_d005c27fa8.jpg

Notes and References

1. Web site: South American Classification Committee. Museum.lsu.edu. 17 March 2022.
2. Web site: IOC World Bird List (v 10.2) Proposed Splits/Lumps . Gill . F. . Donsker. D.. Rasmussen . P.. Worldbirdnames.org. December 2020 . 2 January 2021 .
3. Web site: Caracara bird. Encyclopædia Britannica. en. 2019-12-04.
4. Web site: Crested Caracara Identification, All About Birds, Cornell Lab of Ornithology . Allaboutbirds.org. en. 2019-12-04.
5. Web site: Crested Caracara Bird Gallery Houston Audubon. Houstonaudubon.org. en. 2019-12-04.
6. Web site: Crested Caracara: Not Your Everyday Falcon. Wildlatitudes.com. en-US. 2019-12-04.
7. Web site: Crested Caracara Bird Gallery Houston Audubon. Houstonaudubon.org. en. 4 December 2019.
8. Web site: Crested Caracara - Introduction. Birds of North America Online. 4 December 2019. 23 October 2019. https://web.archive.org/web/20191023145924/https://birdsna.org/Species-Account/bna/species/crecar1/introduction. dead.
9. Web site: Crested Caracara Caracara cheriway . Birds of the World . Cornell Lab of Ornithology . 17 March 2022 . 19 June 2021 . https://web.archive.org/web/20210619155531/https://birdsoftheworld.org/bow/species/crecar1/cur/introduction . dead .
10. Web site: Audubon's Crested Caracara Polyborus plancus audubonii . U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. 4 December 2019 . 4 December 2019 . https://web.archive.org/web/20191204075913/https://www.fws.gov/verobeach/MSRPPDFs/AudubonsCrestedCaracara.pdf . dead .
11. Web site: Crested caracara. Raptor.umn.edu. en. 4 December 2019. 4 December 2019. https://web.archive.org/web/20191204075906/https://www.raptor.umn.edu/learn-about-raptors/raptors-north-america/crested-caracara. dead.
12. David W. . Steadman . Richard . Franz . Gary S. . Morgan . Nancy A. . Albury . Brian . Kakuk . Kenneth . Broad . Shelley E. . Franz . Keith . Tinker . Michael P. . Pateman . Terry A. . Lott . David M. . Jarzen . David L. . Dilcher . Exceptionally well preserved late Quaternary plant and vertebrate fossils from a blue hole on Abaco, The Bahamas . Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences . 104 . 50 . 19897–19902 . 10.1073/pnas.0709572104 . 2007 . 18077421 . 2148394. 2007PNAS..10419897S . free .
13. Book: Extinct Birds. Hume. Julian P.. Walters. Michael. 2012-03-19. A&C Black. 9781408158623. en.
14. Body mass estimations and paleobiological inferences on a new species of large Caracara (Aves, Falconidae) from the Late Pleistocene of Uruguay . Journal of Paleontology . 23353814. Jones. Washington. Rinderknecht. Andrés. Migotto. Rafael. Blanco . R. Ernesto. 87. 1. 151–158. 2013. 10.1666/12-026R.1. 2013JPal...87..151J . 83648963.
15. A Late Pleistocene avifauna from San Miguel Island, California . Daniel A. . Guthrie . 1992 . Los Angeles County Natural History Museum Science Series . 36 . 319–327 .
16. Jones . Washington W. . Cenizo . Marcos M. . Agnolin . Federico L. . Rinderknecht . Andrés . Blanco . R. Ernesto . 2015-09-01 . The largest known falconid . Neues Jahrbuch für Geologie und Paläontologie - Abhandlungen . en . 277 . 3 . 361–372 . 10.1127/njgpa/2015/0514 . 0077-7749.
17. Suárez. William. Olson. Storrs L.. 2014-09-01. A new fossil species of small crested caracara (Aves: Falconidae: Caracara) from the Pacific lowlands of western South America . Proceedings of the Biological Society of Washington. 127. 2. 299–310. 10.2988/0006-324X-127.2.299. 130085421 .
18. Storrs L. . Olson . A new species of large, terrestrial Caracara from Holocene deposits in southern Jamaica (Aves: Falconidae) . Journal of Raptor Research . The Raptor Research Foundation . 42 . 4 . 265–272 . 2008 . 10.3356/JRR-08-18.1. 84510858 . free .