Crested caracaras are no strangers to spring fever. These members of the falcon family make their intentions loudly known, throwing their heads back with guttural calls and cackling cries to attract a partner. Couples are loyal to each other and to their home, mating for life and returning yearly to the same nesting site and even the same tree. This courting pair is in the grasslands of Texas, the northern extent of the crested caracara’s range. The striking birds can be found in pastures, farmland, deserts, and savannas from the southern United States all the way down to the southern tip of South America.
Crested caracaras
Today in History
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International Day of Peace
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A bird of beauty
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The Easter Bunny’s story
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Mack Arch Rock
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International Beaver Day
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Talk like a pirate—or walk the plank
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Mont-Saint-Michel
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Beware the Ides of March
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Nha Phu Bay, Nha Trang, Vietnam
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An aviation celebration
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Veterans Day
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Combating extinction with citizen science
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‘You should see the one that got away!’
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Swim city
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Great horned owl near Lake Tohopekaliga, Florida
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The persistence of Perito Moreno
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Wahclella Falls, Oregon
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A lofty lighthouse and a little ocean spray
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Ringing in the new year at Teotihuacan
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A throng of ice and spires
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Twosday
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Palouse farmland, Washington state
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A cliffside harbor in Sardinia
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Paradise, found
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Mountain mists over Bavaria
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Happy 300th, NOLA!
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Castle ruins on the island of Halki, Greece