----------
> From: Ruth Sullivan <GODWIT at worldnet.att.net>
> To: hunnhome at accessone.com; tweeters at u.washington.edu
> Subject: Re: Caracara
> Date: Thursday, January 22, 1998 9:53 PM
>
> 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.