Yellow-headed caracara
| Yellow-headed caracara | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Yellow-headed caracara in the Feldatal bird of prey station |
||||||||||
| Systematics | ||||||||||
|
||||||||||
| Scientific name | ||||||||||
| Milvago chimachima | ||||||||||
| ( Vieillot , 1816) |
The yellow-headed caracara ( Milvago chimachima ) is a small Karakara , mainly in the north and central America occurs. Its name refers to its plumage color.
features
The yellow-headed caracara has a cream to beige colored plumage. Its elytra are black-brown. He has a black stripe behind his eye on his head. Its tail is slightly banded. It reaches a size of 40 to 46 cm and a wingspan of 81 to 95 cm. As with most hawks and birds of prey , the male is slightly smaller than the female. The male specimens weigh around 300 g (235 to 329 g), the female around 330 g (297 to 364 g).
distribution
The species lives in most of South America east of the Andes, from northern Argentina to Central America. It has been observed in Costa Rica since 1973 and has increased its area significantly since then.
Habitat
The yellow-headed caracara prefers open, unforested habitats, it is often in cultivated and grazing land. Within closed forest areas, it occurs mainly along large rivers.
Food and subsistence
As a vulture falcon, it eats carrion, mostly from smaller animals. The yellow-headed caracara can often be seen on grazing cattle and other larger animals, which it searches for ticks and insects. Like many other karakaras, it often scrapes for insects, worms, and other invertebrates. Furthermore, one can also call him a food opportunist.
phylogenesis
According to a multigene phylogenomic study by Jerome Fuchs et al. In 2012 the genus Milvago is polyphyletic . The closest relative of Milvago chimachima would then be Daptrius ater , the yellow-throated caracara .
Individual evidence
- ^ John B. Dunning, Jr .: The CRC Handbook of Avian Body Masses, Second Edition. CRC Press, 2007, ISBN 1420064452 , p. 63 ( preview on Google Books ).
- ↑ BirdLife International (2014) Species factsheet: Milvago chimachima
- ↑ Carrol L. Henderson: Field Guide to the Wildlife of Costa Rica. University of Texas Press, 2002, ISBN 029273459X , Yellow-headed Caracara, p. 197.
- ↑ Jerome Fuchs, Jeff A. Johnson, David P. Mindell (2012): Molecular systematics of the caracaras and allies (Falconidae: Polyborinae) inferred from mitochondrial and nuclear sequence data. Ibis (2012), doi : 10.1111 / j.1474-919X.2012.01222.x (open access)
literature
- James Ferguson-Lees , David Christie: The birds of prey of the world. Franckh-Kosmos Verlag, Stuttgart 2009, ISBN 978-3-440-11509-1 , pp. 82 and 262, plate 93.
Web links
- Milvago chimachima inthe IUCN 2013 Red List of Threatened Species . Listed by: BirdLife International, 2012. Retrieved March 17, 2014.