Did You Know That Caracaras Think Like You Do?

byRosanaHart

1.4K followers

2 years ago

Do you even know what caracaras are? They are South America birds of prey with surprising ways of thinking. They have open and curious minds, much like humans! This means they may approach us. One might pull your cap off and fly away with it.

I happened to pick up a library book about caracaras. A Most Remarkable Creature: The Hidden Life and Epic Journey of the World's Smartest Birds of Prey, by Jonathan Meiburg. He discovered hundreds of striated caracaras on the Falkland Islands, specifically on one of the small islands. Out walking one day, he says:

I heard a rush of wings and a faint clicking of talons on the shale, and turned to face a pair of young striated caracaras--the first I'd ever seen. Unlike the penguins and shags, they were unmistakably interested in me; one took a few steps in my direction and cocked its head like a dog. A gift seemed appropriate, but I didn't have any food, so I fished a pen from my pocket and dropped it on the ground.

The two birds gazed at it for a moment, as if deciding what to do, and then one stepped forward to seize the pen with its large, dexterous foot--an almost parrot-like gesture--and looked up at me, as if to say "Is this all you've got?" Then its companion lunged for the pen, flapping its wings and screeching, and the tumbling pair chased each other over the lip of the cliff.

The writer becomes fascinated with these birds and travels around South America watching various caracara species. I'm not that ambitious, but I got absorbed in his lengthy book.

Have you ever heard of these amazing birds?