Crested caracara

The crested caracara (Caracara plancus) is a raptor belonging to the falcon family, Falconidae. It was once classified under the genus Polyborus but now has its own genus, Caracara. Its range spans the southern and southeastern United States, every state in Mexico, most of mainland Latin America, and several Caribbean islands. This bird is notably adaptable and resilient for a neotropical species, thriving in environments as varied as semi-arid deserts, coastal areas, subtropical and tropical forests, temperate zones, plains, swamps, and even urban settings. Rare sightings have been documented as far north as Minnesota and the Canadian provinces of Alberta, Ontario, and Prince Edward Island, while its southern range extends to Tierra del Fuego and the Magallanes Region of Chile.

The name "caracara" comes from Old Tupi *karakará*, likely an onomatopoeic imitation of the bird's call. It is also called the Mexican eagle, though it is not a true eagle. This nickname originated from a 1960 proposal by Rafael Martín del Campo, who argued—based on pre-Conquest imagery—that the bird on a prickly pear cactus in the founding myth of Tenochtitlan was a caracara, not a golden eagle. However, since the Spanish Conquest, the golden eagle has been firmly tied to that myth and appears on Mexico’s national insignia as its national animal.

In 1853, German artist Balduin Möllhausen, traveling with a railroad survey along the 35th parallel, recorded what he called the "Texan Eagle" in the Sans Bois Mountains of southeastern Oklahoma, identifying it as Audubon’s *Polyborus vulgaris*.

English illustrator John Frederick Miller first depicted the crested caracara in a hand-colored plate for his 1777 work *Icones animalium et plantarum*, giving it the binomial name *Falco plancus* and specifying Tierra del Fuego as the type locality. The species name *plancus* is Latin for "eagle." It now sits in the genus *Caracara*, introduced by German naturalist Blasius Merrem in 1826. Two subspecies are recognized: *C. p. cheriway*, found from the southern United States through Mexico, Central America, and into northern South America, plus several Caribbean islands; and *C. p. plancus*, ranging from southeastern Peru and northern Bolivia to eastern Brazil and south to Tierra del Fuego and the Falkland Islands. The northern subspecies was once considered a separate species called the northern crested caracara.

The crested caracara inhabits open or semi-open habitats across its vast range, from Tierra del Fuego to the southern U.S., Mexico, and Central America, with an isolated population on the Falkland Islands. It avoids the Andean highlands and dense humid forests like the Amazon, except along major rivers. It is often found near humans. Reports have placed it as far north as San Francisco, California, and near Crescent City, California, in 2012. Sightings in Nova Scotia during the 2010s suggest some may live there. The species has become more common in central and north Texas and is widespread in south Texas and south of the U.S. border, also nesting in the southern Caribbean (Aruba, Curaçao, Bonaire), Mexico, and Central America.

In Florida, a relict population of northern crested caracaras dates to the last glacial period, around 12,500 years ago, when oak savanna covered Florida and the Gulf Coast. As temperatures rose, the savanna between Florida and Texas disappeared, but caracaras survived in central Florida’s prairies and marshes along the St. Johns River. They prefer cabbage palmettos for nesting, though they also use southern live oaks. Their historical Florida range included Okeechobee, Osceola, Highlands, Glades, Polk, Indian River, St. Lucie, Hardee, DeSoto, Brevard, Collier, and Martin counties. Today, they are most common in DeSoto, Glades, Hendry, Highlands, Okeechobee, and Osceola counties. On the East Coast, they have been seen as far as extreme eastern Brevard County (Viera, Florida), where they are considered resident but listed as threatened. In February 2023, one was identified in St. Johns County, Florida, and documented by the St. Johns County Audubon Society.

Vagrant individuals have been reported: in July 2016 near Munising in Michigan’s upper peninsula; in June 2017 in St. George, New Brunswick, Canada; and in March 2020 in Woodstock, Vermont.