From Paul Ruszala

🚨 RARE BIRD ALERT 🚨

Crested Caracara 9/7/26 Outer Cape Cod

No, I am not currently in South America! After hearing rumors and some random reports about this bird being around the Outer Cape, I decided to put a little effort into tracking him down where eventually I crossed paths with him on two consecutive days. Each time he was way out in the middle of a marsh on windy days where getting a solid photo was tough. It pushed my gear to the limits for sure.

Very interesting bird to watch as even though it is part of the falcon family it surprised me by feeding on the ground almost the entire time I saw him. He would occasionally perch on a branch 2-3 feet off the ground and continue on. Saw him fly off to roost one evening and last sight of him he took off south and didn't look back. Hope he finds his way home!

Sony A7RV, 200-600mm with 1.4tc F9.0, iso400, 1/400

Caracaras are beautiful birds, but I haven't posted any since they're not uncommon. I've seen a bunch in sanctuaries. But seeing one in Cape Cod is very unusual!

There are also recent sightings in Maine, possibly the same bird.

Here is their range map. Anything north of Florida or the Mexico/US border is uncommon, let along way up in New England.

I love caracaras! Very majestic Their white underside wing tips are very striking, making them easy to spot.

Fun Fact: It's likely that the bird from the legend of the founding of Tenochtitlán (that inspired the Mexican coat of arms) was a Caracara instead of a golden Eagle.

It went to the wrong cactus. 😐

Honestly can't go wrong with either bird!

What a great photo! <3

I wish I could have found an HD version, but that was the only one with a snake on a cactus I came across. Plenty of good ones with just one or the other though! They are beautiful birds. It's hard not to look tough and impressive standing barefoot on a giant cactus with a snake in your mouth. Can't think of too much more macho than that, unless the cactus was on the back of a flaming semi going full speed.

They were around while I was growing up yet I never knew or noticed them until I went to see Jack Hannah present one. After learning about caracara I was easily able to spot them along the roadsides, mostly in Glades County.

I'm glad you got to realize what you were missing!

I've always gone to zoos and aquariums just because animals=cute, but now that I take it more seriously, I can recall a lot of rare animals I didn't appreciate seeing as much as I should have when I had the opportunity.

Appreciating animals you have right around you can often be skewed due to the fact they're always just there. I talked to someone on here once from Australia and asked if any of our North American animals wowed them, being as they are from the land of crazy cool animals. They said squirrels amazed them to no end. In Pennsylvania it's hard to go outdoors without seeing squirrels, so I often didn't think much about them for the longest time, so it was a surprise that people would get such a thrill out of them.