hello everyone,

a crested caracara also popped up in north-central arkansas around 11 may.
it was emaciated and had an eye infection, and was taken to a veterinarian
for treatment by a local raptor rescue group. no idea what its fate was.

crested caracaras have popped up in washington state before -- at ocean
shores in august 1983, and at neah bay in January 1998 -- both of which i
chased. no one was able to conclusively decide the origin of those birds
either. however, i have close ties to aviculturists and some looser
associations with falconers, so when i asked around amongst my contacts,
none of them knew anyone in the area who breeds or even keeps crested
caracara. zoos, semi-public and private menageries don't keep this species,
either, so it's unlikely to be an escapee. but how the bird arrived so far
north without ever being spotted anywhere along the way is anyone's guess.

hope this helps.


On Tue, Jun 16, 2015 at 4:45 PM, Matt Joras <matt at mjoras.com> wrote:

> I'm a bit surprised people aren't talking about this more. Isn't it
> exceptionally unlikely that this bird is here naturally? It's not as if
> this is a vagrant migrating songbird. Wouldn't we have seen reports of the
> bird between where it is now and where its natural range is? It seems most
> likely to me that this is an escaped captive bird. Has anybody investigated
> this possibility?
>
> Matt Joras
>
> On Jun 15, 2015 8:25 PM, MT <Tomboulian at comcast.net> wrote:
> >
> > This bird in Skykomish seems so unlikely...I don?t suppose we can prove
> provenance.
> >
> > But I know people out there in that area that keep all kinds of exotic
> pets, legal and not..
> >
> > Mark Tomboulian
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>


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Devorah Bennu, PhD
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