Crested Caracara

Fascinating facts about the Crested Caracara

• A caracara will walk on the ground like a secretary bird, using its long legs to stride through grassland and flip over cow dung with its beak to find beetle larvae and grubs — behaviour so unusual for a raptor that early naturalists debated whether it was even a bird of prey at all.
• Unlike other raptors that hunt from the air, crested caracaras hunt cooperatively in pairs, working together to corner prey on open ground or even raiding vulture kills by outnumbering and intimidating larger birds through sheer persistence and aggression.
• A caracara's face is mostly bare skin — bare orange cheeks, a bare forehead, and a bare crown that flushes darker red when the bird is alarmed or excited, like a living mood ring that signals its emotional state to rivals and mates from 100 metres away.
• Caracaras have been documented following farmers and tractors across fields, landing metres behind the plough to snatch freshly exposed rodents, insects, and reptiles — a learned behaviour that some populations have refined over generations to time their breeding season around the farming calendar.
• A juvenile caracara takes 2–3 years to develop the bright orange facial skin and dark crest of an adult, spending that entire period being fed by its parents in some cases — one of the longest dependency periods of any bird of prey, suggesting strong family bonds rare among raptors.

At a glance

About the Crested Caracara

As the crested caracara soars through the open skies, its broad wings beating in a slow, deliberate rhythm, it exudes a sense of effortless mastery over its domain. With its sharp, inquisitive eyes scanning the landscape below, this sleek and powerful bird of prey glides effortlessly on the thermals, its crest held high like a proud banner as it rides the wind currents with an air of serene confidence. In its native habitats, the crested caracara is a ubiquitous and fascinating presence, its intelligence and adaptability making it a remarkable and resilient hunter.

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