Friday’s Feathered Friends-Crested Caracara

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Copyright ©2026 Deborah M. Zajac. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

PLEASE DO NOT USE MY IMAGES WITHOUT EXPRESSED WRITTEN PERMISSION.

I’ve been away visiting my Step-dad in FL and while there I had two full days of birding. It was a fantastic visit.

We had a beach day, we ate fresh seafood a couple of times, and Greek food at Hellas in Tarpon Springs. It’s a family favorite.

Birding was awesome. I picked up 12 “lifers” this trip and this adult Crested Caracara is one of them.

©Deborah M. Zajac | http//:circadianreflections.com
Crested Caracara

Fun Facts:

The Crested Caracara looks like a hawk with its sharp beak and talons, behaves like a vulture, and is technically a large tropical black-and-white falcon. It is instantly recognizable standing tall on long yellow-orange legs with a sharp black cap set against a white neck and yellow-orange face. The Crested Caracara is a bird of open country and reaches only a few states in the southern U.S. It flies low on flat wings, and routinely walks on the ground.

  • A common subject of folklore and legends throughout Central and South America, the Crested Caracara is sometimes called the “Mexican eagle.”
  • Although it looks like a long-legged hawk the Crested Caracara is actually a falcon.
  • The Crested Caracara is the only falcon that collects material to build a nest. Other falcons lay their eggs in an old nest built by another species or in a scrape on the ground.
  • The oldest recorded Crested Caracara was at least 21 years, 9 months old when it was identified by its band in 2015 in Florida. It was originally banded in the same state in 1994.
  • Fun facts gleaned from https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Crested_Caracara/overview

I’m really behind with your blogs, but I’ll catch up.

Have a wonderful week-end, everyone!

more to come…

29 thoughts on “Friday’s Feathered Friends-Crested Caracara”

  2. I might have as many photos of Crested Caracaras as of any other bird in our area. I see them flying, perching, nesting, walking, and catching grasshoppers like they’re playing a game. I once found a mated pair just chilling on a refuge road; I got out of the car and walked toward them until I was only feet away, and I was the one who decided I was close enough! They’re beautiful birds. This is my favorite photo of one, taken from my car. He was sitting on a fence post only feet away — so close that I could only include his head as I shot from the driver’s seat through the window. I’m so glad that you were able to see one on your trip!

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    1. Oh my! How wonderful is that!!! That you were that close is amazing! I’d never even heard of this bird before I saw it. I’m a bit envious that you’ve seen this bird so often and have been just that close!!

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  3. Never saw or heard if this bird so thanks for sharing with a really nice capture. The flat crest reminds me of the top of the head of a male American goldfinch. Both look like they have bad toupees.

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  4. Congrats on the 12 lifers, Deborah, woot woot!! This is a magnificent capture of the Crested Caracara! ❤️ I’ve seen/photographed this raptor in Florida, too. I’ve been thinking about you, wondering/hoping you were having a grand time and birding success! Can’t wait to see more!

    On a side note, there was a rare sighting two weeks ago in Delaware of a Crested Caracara about three hours from me, it hung around a few days then vanished. It was sighted again five days ago in Maryland, about three hours south of me, but no one can find it now. All the Maryland pro-birders are looking for it (I’m following the group chatter), but no luck. It’s high-tailing to Florida to get warm, I bet, ‘cuz we got cold again!

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    1. Thank you so much, Donna! I had a great time in FL. Wow the excitement for you all up there about this bird being so far north I can well imagine! It shouldn’t be up there at all! I hope you find it, but if it’s cold it might have flown south already.

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      1. I think they’ve given up. Today a Swallow-tailed Kite was seen 2 hrs north of me, lol. The pro-birders staked out the entire area this afternoon. I’m on a private eastern shore Maryland tip line, and no one announced they found it. I’d love to find it in my tree in the morning! 😁

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        1. Oh wow! I saw two Swallow-tailed Kites while in FL, but no image sadly. I was so busy watching them fly by and trying to figure out what they were when my friend said, ” Shoot that’s a Swallow-tailed Kite! By then it was too late they were gone. Next winter Spring I hope to go back and I’ll be ready with my camera and not so memorized by something new!
          I’ve done this before with mating Eagles doing their Talon thing in the sky. I was so absorbed with watching them I didn’t get one single shot in. It’s in my head and memories though so, it’s okay.

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  6. Wow Deborah what a wonderful score of lifers ! Your excellent photo well depicts the very unique features of this unusual bird. Sounds like you really had a most enjoyable experience away with great food also.

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  7. That’s a wonderful bird and photograph, Deborah. A falcon looking like a hawk pretending to be a vulture. A not well know fact is that this bird loves to go to France on holiday, hence it’s cap. When there they play petangue and say ‘Ohlala’ and ‘Merci bien’ all of the time. 🙂 Nor really, congrats with this fantastic lifer!

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  9. Congrats on the new Lifer birds!! I’m glad that you had an enjoyable visit. My parents had a home in Tarpon Springs, dad passed two years ago, mom a few years ago so my sister and I sold the home. Tarpon Springs is a great area! I used to live just off of Alternate 19 right on the bay.

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    1. Thank you so much, John! So, you know Hellas’! The other restaurant I really like in Tarpon Springs is Rusty Bellies Waterfront Grill. Yummy grouper tacos!

      Tarpon Springs seems to get hit by the hurricanes a lot but, they seem to know how to get cleaned up and running pretty fast.

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      1. They sure do, it was the storm of 1993 that drove the now ex and I out of Florida. Our home was right on the intra-coastal waterway and was flooded and ruined. We went back to Michigan. My sis had a home in Fort Myers that was ruined in a hurricane, I forget its name but she sold the property and is back in Michigan. We are done with the state because of the hurricanes. But I have wonderful memories in Florida! 😂👍🏻

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        1. My parents house is further inland and so far have been okay through the hurricanes they’ve experienced so, were I ever to move there I’d move further inland too! My Sister-in-Law is also more inland and they’ve fared well during the hurricanes as well.

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