Mexican Eagle…by Brad Marks

Got a call from our Quality Department none too pleased with our current level of output this month. My whines and excuses fell on deaf ears as they simply point up at the month quota goal sign while playing their tiniest violin. Even hitting the 21 mile day running milestone this week – a mere 3 miles from the peak training effort I need to hit prior to the Oct race, still held zero sway . Heartless I tell ya! Anyway, no worries (yet) as I have an “ace up my sleeve”…or rather a “Brad in my folder”! Been saving up his adventures for this very situation. Apologies in advance for my lack of comment responses – we be burning the candle on three ends ha,

Take it away Brad…

Having adult children with their own careers makes family travel a challenge sometimes, but all the more rewarding when schedules mesh.  Jan and I found a moderate length cruise around the Caribbean in early March that would fit within the vacation time Allyson and Garrett had available to them.  The cruise took us to five new countries (six for Garrett) including a partial Panama Canal transit.  No, the ship didn’t sink part-way through.  The ship only had enough time to go into the Canal Zone through the Atlantic set of NeoPanamax locks (the new larger set of locks completed in 2016), wait a couple hours on Gatun Lake for its turn to pass back through those same locks on the way back to the Caribbean.  The new set of larger locks are one-way only, sort of like many tunnels through the mountains in the Black Hills: ships have to wait for on-coming traffic to clear before proceeding through the set of three locks in the opposite direction.

One of the stops on our recent Caribbean assignment was Curaçao (pronounced “kyer-uh-SAU” or “cure-uh-SOW” with the end rhyming with how or plow or now).  Please do not pronounce the last syllable with a hard “c” which sounds like a “k” as in the word “cow” or they will definitely know you are from America, or have had a bit too much of the blue liqueur famously named for the island.

Jan and I were taking a tour of a local ostrich farm.  Since the ostriches were captive, I can’t really count them, and I’m not.  They are just a prop for this story.  Our tour group of about 25 people had been broken up into two groups, because the local tour vehicle was a small minivan with iron pipe benches bolted into the bare metal interior.  There were no glass windows in the “van” so we could freely take photos without odd reflections from the glass.

Now that looks like an interesting bird, hit the jump to learn more.

Our guide had no sooner started the tour when he stopped to tell us about the farm.  Something out the left window caught my eye and I started taking photos.  At first, I thought one of the chickens had roosted in a low tree branch.  However, the bill/beak looked a little too much like Sam Eagle from the Muppets, so I kept taking photos.  Jan asked what I was looking at, so I pointed to the shadow sitting on a low branch in the tree.  We were only able to catch a few photos before the minivan started moving again.

A few minutes later in the tour, Jan spotted something running across the hard-packed dirt towards some scrub brush.  My first thought ran to it being a large road runner, but I was quickly proven wrong when looked at the photos later onboard the ship.

It turned out to be our first Crested Caracara (Caracara plancus), a +1.  This is a serious looking bird.  While not as large as vultures or bald eagles, I think this bird would hold its own in a fight for food with larger birds. 

We returned to the ship just in time to begin a second bus tour that promised to show us much of the island country of Curaçao.  This motor coach was full of people from our ship.  However, a few of them did not read the activity requirements very carefully.  For those of you who haven’t taken an excursion from a cruise ship before, there are various levels of activity required for each excursion.  This tour was a Level 3 activity (active/strenuous, climbing, extensive walking, fast-paced activity). Needless to say, a few probably weren’t up to Level 1 activity level (leisurely pace, walking short distances, getting on and off a tour bus) which slowed the rest of the group a bit.  The age demographic on the cruise, in general, and on this tour was well north of the mid 70’s, with Allyson and Garrett, and even Jan and I, bringing that average down quite a bit.

On the homeward leg of the tour, the motor coach took us inland a mile or two from the coast.  At one point, the guide asked the driver to stop because there was a Caracara along the highway.  Immediately, many of the Level 1 Activity folks took out their smartphones and crowded to the front of the bus where the bird was.  In the minutes it took them all to find their reading glasses, and try to remember how to unlock their smart phones, the bird flew off.  This scenario repeated a couple more times before the people seated near us in the back yelled to the front, “Let the people with real cameras get to the front of the bus.”  No Go.  Next time a Caracara was sighted, the same group blocked the aisles yet again, probably having their hearing aids set too low.  Thankfully, the Caracara graced us with a quick fly-by on our side of the coach and Jan caught a few photos through the glass, reflections and all. 

Birds are notoriously hard to count because they don’t sit still very long.  While there are thought to be upwards of 5,000,000 Crested Caracara in their natural range, only about 75-100 are thought to be on the island of Curaçao.  Apparently, the locals don’t see them that often, or that’s what they told us tourists.  Though I think this may be hooey because Jan and I saw, and photographed, Caracara in three separate locations during the same day.  Unless this was the same bird following around the tour bus hoping for a food handout, I think there may be more than just 75 birds on the island.  Just sayin’…

Adult males and females look the same.  They are mostly darkly colored birds.  Cresteds do have a spotted upper chest and shoulder area, with a mostly white front, back and sides of their neck.  Their prodigious bill looks like it protrudes from their foreheads, just below the “toupee”.  Yes, in my opinion the top of their head looks like a toupee. 

Juveniles are more brown-black with speckled neck and shoulders, and a brown cap.  Two of the consistent telltale signs for adults versus juveniles are eye and face color.  Juveniles have darker eyes and adults have piercing yellow eyes.  Juveniles also have a pinkish/brownish face where adults have a yellow face.  The bird we saw earlier in the day sitting in the tree had a pinkish face and streaky breast feathers, pointing to a juvenile or non-breeding adult.

Crested Caracara are sometimes called the Mexican Eagle.  Though a fair bit smaller, Caracara share similar behaviors to other raptors like the American Bald Eagle.  They are opportunist feeders, commonly seen walking around open areas and road edges looking for small prey or carrion.  Cresteds prefer open habitat with scattered cover and few tall trees to allow them to get a good run-up to flight.  They are often in the company of avian scavengers.  Smart survival tactic if you ask me; let someone else do the hard work finding the food.

Pairs form strong bonds and are often together for many years.  Being highly territorial, a pair will return to the same nesting area and often to the same tree season after season.  Non-breeding birds tend to be nomadic, congregating and living in communal groups (think teenagers without driving licenses hanging out at the local mall) and feeding with vultures (teens who recently got their driving licenses).  Caracara can live up to 21 years in the wild.

Crested Caracara are not frequently seen in great numbers very far north of the US Border.  Though there have been sporadic sightings all over the lower 48 and into Canada.  They are of Low Concern in their general range.  A small stronghold in Florida is listed as Threatened.

As you can guess by some of the photos, neither Jan nor I were ever able to get to the front of the motor coach to take photos.  At least I wasn’t driving in a foreign country with Jan leaning out the window trying to get the Caracara as it flew past like we did for a Swainson’s Hawk (here) a year ago. 

Thank you for reading.  If you want to see more Crested Caracara photos, please visit here. 

Credits

Thanks again to Jan for proofreading and editing.  Thanks to Jan for many of the photos in this story.