Guadalupe caracara
| Guadalupe caracara | ||||||||||
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| Systematics | ||||||||||
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| Scientific name | ||||||||||
| Caracara lutosa | ||||||||||
| ( Ridgway , 1876) |
The Guadalupe caracara ( Caracara lutosa ) is an extinct bird in the hawk-like family . He was called Queleli by the inhabitants of the island of Guadalupe .
Taxonomy
The crested carakaras are often placed in the genus Polyborus . According to the American Ornithologists' Union , Caracara is the currently valid generic name.
description
The Guadalupe caracara was closely related to the crested caracara ( Caracara plancus ). It reached a length of 54 centimeters. The wing length was 381 to 418 millimeters and the tail was 260 to 286 millimeters long. The top of the head, the coverts and the wings of the hand were black-brown. The neck, back, middle wing-coverts and about two-thirds of the tail were leather-brown with irregular black-brown and dull white banding. The wide end band was black-brown. The cheeks were yellow-brown. The throat was whitish. The chest, abdomen and thighs were leather-brown with black-brown banding. The iris was brown. The wax skin was pink. The beak was blue-gray. Legs and feet were yellow.
Habitat and way of life
The Guadalupe caracara inhabited dry, cactus- dominated prairies and bushlands on the Mexican Pacific island of Guadalupe. Its diet consisted of carrion, small birds and mammals, insects, worms, crustaceans, and the occasional goat lamb. The Guadalupe caracara showed no fear of humans. Often he had to be driven away from the goat herds with sticks because he attacked the lambs. Little is known about its breeding behavior. A nest was discovered in April 1897 near a rubbish heap. There are two eggs in the museum collections: the first is 55 mm × 43 mm and shows reddish-brown blobs and spots on a white background. The second measures 67mm × 50mm and is darker.
die out
The species was wiped out by human persecution within a few decades. The Guadalupe caracara was discovered by Edward Palmer in 1875, who described it as bold and numerous. Because he occasionally preyed on goat lambs, the farmers puffed him up into a “goat murderer” and persecuted him mercilessly. The population of the Guadalupe Karakara was severely decimated in the 1880s through targeted poisoning and shooting. In order to make the extermination campaign more effective, the government hired a full-time karakara hunter who had no trouble shooting down the birds that had gathered in large numbers at the watering holes. In December 1900, the naturalist Rollo Beck observed eleven specimens, of which he hunted nine. Due to the familiarity of the Guadalupe Karakara, Beck suspected at the time that the species must still occur frequently on Guadalupe. However, this was the last safe observation of the species. During a search expedition in 1906, despite the laying out of goat carcasses, no more specimens were found.
literature
- Errol Fuller (2000): Extinct Birds (2nd edition). Oxford University Press, Oxford, New York. ISBN 0-19-850837-9
- James C. Greenway Jr. (1967): Guadalupe Island Caracara. In: Extinct and Vanishing Birds of the World (2nd edition): pp. 183-185. Dover Publications, New York.
- Henry B. Kaeding (1905): Birds from the West Coast of Lower California and Adjacent Islands (Part II). Condor 7 (4): p. 134-138. PDF full text
- Dieter Luther (1996): The extinct birds of the world (Die neue Brehm-Bücherei 424) (4th edition). Westarp Sciences, Magdeburg; Spectrum, Heidelberg. ISBN 3-89432-213-6
- CB Abbott (1933): Closing history of the Guadalupe Caracara . Condor 35 (5): pp. 10–15 PDF full text
- Walton Beacham (1997): World Wildlife Fund Guide to Extinct Species of Modern Times . ISBN 0-933833-40-7 .
Web links
- Caracara Lutosa in the endangered Red List species the IUCN 2008. Posted by: BirdLife International, 2008. Accessed January 6 of 2009.