The bonecarrier caracara (Caracara cheriway) – Plucky Photography
This beautiful bird of prey can weigh one kilogram and reach 120 cm wingspan.
They like to glide over open areas such as fields and a street, looking for dead animals, as their diet mainly is carrion, although, they additionally hunt for small reptiles, rodents, and even bald foxes, smelly skunks and birds such as white ibis, and cattle egrets. We can also find them on the beach depredating turtle eggs.
They throw dead animals from the heights to fracture their bones, and to get to the bone marrow, which for them is an important food source for them.
They live exclusively in American territory from Texas to Brazil. The fact is that the bird is very cosmopolitan, and relatively abundant, which does not make it any less special. Next to the vultures and other scavengers, it performs an important role in our ecosystem: the recycling of organic matter.
You can watch them frequently having sand baths on the unpaved streets of Bahia Uvita, and at the Marine Ballena National Park.
INFO: Estación Biológica Huen Tebec ( IBT) – Tel 8713 8767 costarica@biotropical.org
