Ya i hear the news already,this Bird maybe an Escape. i am going anyway
tomorrow and let you know if we found the Caracara.Thank you Eugene on the
dates and the histery behind this Bird. it makes this species even more
attractive to see.
Ruth
GODWIT at worldnet.att.net

----------
> From: Eugene Hunn <hunnhome at accessone.com>
> To: tweeters at u.washington.edu
> Subject: Caracara
> Date: Thursday, January 22, 1998 9:19 PM
>
> Gene Hunn, Seattle, hunnhome at accessone.com
>
> In case you didn't know, there have been at least two previous reports of
> Crested Caracaras in Washington State. The first was relegated to the
> hypothetical list by Jewett et al. in their 1953 Birds of Washington
State:
>
> Caracara Caracara cheriway (Jacquin)
>
> On June 21, 1936, one of these birds was "shot by a rancher at
> Westport, Washington, when it swooped down into his chicken yard, seized
a
> half grown chicken and flew with it to a neighboring tree" (Balmer,
> 1936:54). The specimen was given to Adam Balmer, who mounted it for his
> collection.
>
> At the time this bird was taken so far from its natural habitat,
> there was much speculation as to how it reached Westport where it was
> killed. The following may or may not be the explanation: Early in July,
> 1936, James Gerow of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service told Jewett that
he
> had recently visited a servivce station at Burlington, Multnomah County,
on
> the lower Columbia River in Oregon where he had seen three captive
"Mexican
> Eagles" or caracaras in a large wire cage. In talking to the proprietor
of
> the station, he was informed that he, the proprietor, had recently
received
> four of these birds from "down South," but that one had escaped soon
after
> they were received "about the middle of June." Under the circumstances,
> Jewett believes the bird that Balmer reported was the escaped caracara
from
> Burlington, Oregon. (pg. 672)
>
> The second report was also coastal, a bird photographed at Ocean Shores
> during the late 1970s (if I remember correctly). I have no idea how
> frequently caracaras might be kept in captivity, but it remains probably
the
> most likely explanation for the Neah Bay bird.