Yellow-headed Caracara
A species of Brown Caracaras Scientific name : Milvago chimachima Genus : Brown Caracaras
Yellow-headed Caracara, A species of Brown Caracaras
Botanical name: Milvago chimachima
Genus: Brown Caracaras
Content
Description General Info
Description
The yellow-headed caracara is 41–46 cm (16–18 in) in length and weighs 325 g (11.5 oz) on average. Like many other birds of prey, the female is larger than the male, weighing 310–360 g (11–13 oz) against the male's 280–330 g (9.9–11.6 oz). Apart from the difference in size, there is no significant sexual dimorphism in this species. It is broad-winged and long-tailed, somewhat resembling a small Buteo. The adult has a buff head, with a black streak behind the eye, and buff underparts. The upper plumage is brown with distinctive pale patches on the flight feathers of the wings, and the tail is barred cream and brown. The head and underparts of immature birds have dense brown mottling. The voice is a characteristic screamed schreee. 
Size
45 cm
Life Expectancy
12 years
Feeding Habits
Yellow-headed Caracara thrives on an omnivorous diet, feeding on carrion, insects, and fruits. It forages on the ground, often near livestock, consuming food ranging from roadkill to beetles and frogs. Yellow-headed Caracara also hunts for bird nests and feeds on agricultural produce like maize, showing unique dietary adaptability.
Habitat
Open country with scattered trees, ranchland, pastures, palm savannas, forest edge, along rivers
Dite type
Scavenger
General Info
Distribution Area
This is a bird of savanna, swamps and forest edges. Resident from Costa Rica south through Trinidad and Tobago to northern Argentina (the provinces of Misiones, Chaco, Formosa, Corrientes and Santa Fe), it is typically found from sea level to 1,800 m (5,900 ft), and occasionally to 2,600 m (8,500 ft) above mean sea level. In southern South America, it is replaced by a close relative, the chimango caracara, whose range overlaps with that of the yellow-headed caracara in southern Brazil, northern Argentina, Paraguay and Uruguay. A larger and stouter paleosubspecies, Milvago chimachima readei, occurred in Florida and possibly elsewhere some tens of thousand years ago, during the Late Pleistocene. According to the Peregrine Fund database, the yellow-headed caracara is expanding its range into Nicaragua.
Species Status
Not globally threatened.
Scientific Classification
Phylum
Chordates Class
Birds Order
Diurnal Birds of Prey Family
Falcons and caracaras Genus
Brown Caracaras Species
Yellow-headed Caracara 
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