Northern Caracara (Caracara cheriway)
(aka Northern Crested-Caracara)
Northern Caracara, Roraima, Brazil, July 2001 - click for a larger image Roraima, Brazil
July 2001

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

Northern Caracara, Roraima, Brazil, July 2001 - click for a larger image The Northern 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 Northern and Southern Caracara along the Amazon river there are individual birds which show features of both 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.

There are illustrations in Hilty & Brown, (as Crested Caracara) Plate I; in Ridgely & Greenfield (as Northern Crested-Caracara) Plate 16; and in HBW (as a race of Crested Caracara), Volume 2, Page 248.

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