Crested Caracaras
have a raspy, grunting vocal sound when gossiping with one another or trying to
get a date. Nature photographer Greg Lasley says, “During the vocalization the
bird thrusts its head sharply upward, and sometimes it’s thrust so far that the
bird’s head is upside down over its back.” They
have no real natural predators who prey on them for food except for man, since
they spend a great deal of time on the ground. They will make a shrieking noise
when they feel threatened and throw their heads back in the air then snap them
forward so hard and fast, you wonder why they don’t break their little necks.
Their facial skin color may change from orangey-red to yellow when excited or
threatened. They make a sound that is very harsh, and sounds like “cara cara”
that gives them their name. When mating the same head-rolling and rattling are
also things the male does to attract a mate. They must get this idea from watching
Mick Jagger videos. The
nest of the Caracara is quite large and made of twigs and such. Many layers are
used, with a new layer added each year. In many cases they will reuse the same
nest year after year. The female will lay two or three eggs and the male helps
to warm and incubate them during the 28 days it takes them to hatch. The adults
eat mainly carrion but they do kill fresh meat for their young, who remain in
the nest for three months minimum, sometimes longer. Like human kids, it’s not
easy to get your young ones to leave home either, considering it’s free room and
board.
Caracaras will fly the highways nearly every morning to eat animals
that traffic has killed during the night and if they’re unable to pick apart the
carrion themselves, they wait for kin vulture to do so and then move in and take
it away from him. Hey, nobody said they were stupid.
One strange behavior they do have is that they will attack brown pelicans returning
to the nest with food for their young, forcing them to disgorge what they’ve caught
and then stealing it. I suppose they could market that as “predigested” the way
they market cars as “pre-owned.” Either that or they choose only bulemic pelicans.
They will also watch for turtles laying eggs and dig those up assuming, I guess,
that the turtles, which do not return to the nest, will never find out.
Caracaras will scratch like chickens for worms and insects, and hunt small animals
such as skunks, ‘possums, rats, squirrels, frogs, crabs and even young alligators.
This bird has been called Caracara Eagle, King Buzzard, Mexican Eagle, Audubon’s
Caracara, and Mexican Buzzard.
Groups of birds in general are called a
“flock,” but really interesting birds have special names, like a murmuration of
starlings, an exaltation of larks, a charm of goldfinches. However, the Caracara,
being related to so many others, has a choice of four: convocation of eagles,
cast of falcons, venue of vultures (unless they are flying in which case they’d
be a kettle of vultures), or a wake of buzzards.
Speaking of buzzards,
two of them were preparing to migrate north for the summer but, after talking
about it, they decided they were too old to fly all that way, so they decided
to take a plane. As they were about to board the aircraft, the flight attendant,
noticing that both buzzards were carrying a dead armadillo, asked, "Would you
like to check those armadillos through as luggage?" "No thanks," the buzzards
replied, "they're carrion."
© Maggie Van Ostrand
"A
Balloon In Cactus" September
17, 2010 column |
