Yellow-headed Caracara (Milvago chimachima)

Yellow-headed Caracara

The Yellow-headed Caracara (Milvago chimachima) is a mid-sized bird of prey found in tropical Central and South America (from Costa Rica to Argentina). Typically occurring in open habitats (savannahs, swamps, and forest edges), the birds have profited from forest clearings. They generally feed on small reptiles, amphibians, insects, other invertebrates, and carrion, but have also been seen picking up ticks from cattle or “grooming” sloths… During my visit to Panama in February 2014, I could observe a Caracara-couple which occupied a small area near a mangrove forest close to the city of Colon at the Carribean coast. For all three days I spent at this place, the birds were around sitting in the palm trees and looking pretty. This made me especially happy since I had a previous encounter with the species in Brazil in September 2010 where I could see it from a boat on the Amazon River near Manaus. But back in these days the distance was too much for a decent photograph (see below). Now I am much happier with the pictures and I hope you like them, too!