Northern Crested Caracara - Behavior

Behavior

The Northern Caracara is an omnivorous scavenger that mainly feeds on carrion. The live prey they do catch is usually immobile, injured, incapacitated or young. Prey species can include small mammals, amphibians, reptiles, fish, crabs, insects, their larvae, earthworms, shellfish and young birds. Bird species that are culled can range from large, colonial nesting birds such as storks and herons to small passerines. Reptiles taken often including snakes, lizards and small freshwater turtles. This species, along with other caracaras, is one of few raptors that hunts on foot, often turning over branches and cow dung to reach food. In addition to hunting its own food on the ground, the Northern Caracara will steal from other birds, including vultures, Buteos, pelicans, ibises and spoonbills. Because they stay low to the ground even when flying, they often beat Catharus vultures to carrion and can aggressively displace single vultures of most species from small carcasses. They will occasionally follow trains or automobiles to fetch food that falls off.

Northern Caracaras can usually be spotted either alone, in pairs or family parties of 3-5 birds. Occasionally roosts may contain more than a dozen caracaras and abundant food sources can cause more than 75 to gather. The nesting season is from December to May and is a bit earlier the closer the birds live to the tropics. They build large stick nests in trees such as mesquites and palms, cacti, or on the ground as a last resort. The nests are bulky and untidy, 60–100 cm (24–39 in) wide and 15–40 cm (5.9–16 in) deep, often made of grasses, sticks and hay, spotted with much animal matter. It lays 2 to 3 (rarely 1 to 4) pinkish-brown eggs with darker blotches, which are incubated for 28–32 days.