Red-throated caracara

Red-throated caracara
Conservation status
Least Concern  (IUCN 3.1)[1]
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Aves
Order:	Falconiformes
Family:	Falconidae
Subfamily:	Polyborinae
Genus:	Ibycter Vieillot, 1816
Species:	I. americanus
Binomial name
Ibycter americanus (Boddaert, 1783)
Synonyms
Falco americanus Boddaert, 1783 Daptrius americanus (Boddaert, 1783)

The red-throated caracara (Ibycter americanus) is a social species of bird of prey in the Falconidae family. It is placed in the monotypic genus Ibycter, or sometimes united in Daptrius with the black caracara. Unique among caracaras, it mainly feeds on the larvae of bees and wasps, but will also take the adult insects, fruits and berries.^[2]

It is found in Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Ecuador, French Guiana, Guatemala, Guyana, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Peru, Suriname, and Venezuela. Its natural habitats are subtropical or tropical moist lowland forests and subtropical or tropical moist montane forests.

Diet and Feeding

The red-throated caracara’s diet comprises mainly of wasps and bee larvae, though it will eat mature insects and also forage on fruits and berries found in the humid subtropical and tropical lowlands, and mountainous regions of its Central and South American habitat. Biodiversity of the forest ecosystem is paramount for the bird’s special diet, since wasps and bees often make their nests in hollows or amongst branches of mature trees found in old growth forests. Deforestation and intensive agriculture practices severely hamper the red-throated caracara’s population, likely accounting for its rare sightings today. After the 1950’s, both its population and range rapidly declined in Costa Rica, Honduras, Panama, Equator and French Guiana, causing the species to be placed on the World Wildlife endangered list. Until recently in 2013, very little was known of the red-throated caracara’s feeding behavior until a team of Canadian biologists from the University of Simon Fraser spent months researching the birds using camera surveillance at the Nouragues Field Station in French Guiana. The scientific footage shows the birds using a rapid-fire “fly-by” aerial-diving attack strategy to knock nests down onto the forest floor, while skillfully evading most wasp stings. The birds use air squadron precision repeatedly, diving then scooping upward, to drive off or confuse angry defender swarms around the hive.^[3] Researchers also found that neotropical defender wasps eventually abandon their damaged hive and retreat, alongside smaller worker wasps, to rebuild a new nest site. All predators evolve ways of hunting or trapping prey. Biologist, Sean McCann, observed that these intelligent birds have a highly specialized predation trait in response the wasps’ behavior to cut losses and rebuilt elsewhere.^[3] The predation impact on the numbers of prey populations is undetermined. Furthermore, it is not clear how much the red-throated caracara’s primary food source, wasp larvae, places constraints on the birds' ability to survive since their complex predation is interlinked with neotropical wasp behavior. Knowledge of the bird’s chemical resistance to stings is also unknown. Chemical traces found on the birds’ feet are similar to those secreted from Azteca ants, likely contacted along tree branches and nest sites where both species inhabit.

Description

L ♂20.1” (51 cm) ♀22.1” (56 cm); distinguished from the black caracara by larger size and plumage that is mainly black with the belly, tibal feathers, and undertail feathers being white. Both face and throat are bare with few black feathers scattered on the throat; the exposed skin is red. Both male and female red-throated caracaras are similar in appearance, although females are larger than males. Males have a wing length of 35.55 cm, a tail length of 24.96 cm, a bill length of 2.5 cm and a tarsus length of 5.41 cm. Females have a wing length of 35.93 cm, a tail length of 25.31 cm, a bill length of 2.58 cm, and a tarsus length of 5.62 cm.^[4]

Habitat

The red-throated caracara inhabits the humid lowland forests of Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Ecuador, French Guiana, Guatemala, Guyana, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Peru, and Venezuela. The slow flight of the red-throated caracara makes it suited it to fly in the understory of the forest where the vegetation is thin. The sparse vegetation gives the red-throated caracara greater visibility to spot food and predators. The ornate hawk-eagle and the black-and-white hawk-eagle are predators of the red-throated caracara.^[5]

Behavior

The red-throated caracara hunts in the canopies and the understory of the lowland jungle, foraging mainly for insect nests. The majorities of red-throated caracaras usually silently hunt, but occasionally make soft caws and sometimes hunt in groups. When hunting in groups one to two individuals to scout for predators in the canopy, while the remaining flock hunts in the understory. The red-throated caracara is highly territorial with 4 to 8 individuals in a group. ^[6]

References

External links

• Red-throated caracara videos on the Internet Bird Collection
• Red-throated caracara photo gallery VIREO
• Photo-Medium Res; Article pinkmoose–"Amazonia Lodge"
• Photo-Medium Res; Article www1.nhl.nl–"Suriname Birds"

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