Raptors: Part VII

The Crested Caracara is another carrion eating bird, though not as large as the Turkey or Black Vulture, but still larger the the Red Tail Hawk. It is actually in the Falcon family. The Crested Caracara is not nearly as common as either of the Vultures. Their range is quite small, just "inching" their way into the extreme Southcentral part of Arizona, and Southcentral Texas. They usually don't fly in great numbers either, a much more solitary bird. This makes them much harder to find and to photograph. The first one I saw was perched on a dead saguaro along with a Raven. It was Christine who noticed them. Unfortunately, by the time I got the camera out the Raven was gone. I got two photos of the Crested Caracara before he took off. Only one of those photos was "half decent". I have seen one on a few other occasions: once in a tree at too great a distance to get a good photo; once in a tree fairly close, but my photo was slightly out of focus; once flying with several Black Vultures, and then this one perched on a saguaro, clearly the best of my Caracara photos.