Today, Robbie Fischer
and I decided to try for the Crested Caracara which had been seen along Swanton Road near Davenport Landing, Santa
Cruz County. It was first noted by Madeleine Clyde on 21 September and seen off-and-on since. We arrived to find
a large number of interested birders staking out two likely pastures at the south end of Swanton Road where previous
sightings had been. However dense fog made viewing difficult and by the end of the morning most people had left.
Robbie and I were having lunch at the upper pasture when Shirley Murphy called via cell phone to alert us that
she, Ryan DiGaudio and Cindy Cummings had just glimpsed a distant bird which was probably the Caracara. We arrived
a few minutes later, but the bird had disappeared. Eventually it reappeared atop a fence post near a group of cows
about a half mile south of the south end of Swanton Road. Cindy Cummings drove down to get closer to the bird and
attempt to take photos. Robbie and I decided to join her and after climbing through poison oak up a bluff on the
east side of Highway 1 across from mile post 30.12, we were rewarded with closer views of this interesting bird.
Nevertheless heat waves across the open field made observation of fine details impossible. Additional photos and
detailed discussion of issues surrounding this record may be found at Don
Roberson's site. Additional photos of this bird by Roger Wolfe are here
and another image by Kathy Robertson is here.
A large raptor with a thick white neck, black cap, dark body and long tail. At closer range through the scope
we could make out the long yellow legs
as the bird stalked around on the ground in the manner of an overgrown chicken. The red skin on the face was clearly
visible and it contrasted with a large hooked, blue-gray bill. The dark cap extended back onto the pale nape forming
a point and once it was raised forming a distinct crest. The white areas on the neck and upper breast could be
seen to actually be a pale cream color and fine dark-brown barring was evident across the lower chest extending
around to the lower nape. The black belly became a rich tawny-brown color at the upper breast where the dark barring
started to form. The lower belly and undertail appeared buffy and the long tail was pale at the base with a dark
terminal tail band.
The wing coverts appeared to be a fairly rich tawny-brown color. The folded flight feathers also seemed quite worn and brownish looking.
After watching the bird for about 40 minutes, it took flight and headed towards us out over Highway 1. It circled to the south and disappeared behind a grove a eucalyptus trees to the south where we were unable to relocate the bird.
In flight we could see that the outer primaries were conspicuously white with narrow dark tips forming two large white patches in the wings. The pale base to the tail was also evident in flight. The flight feathers seemed quite worn and I felt there were primaries missing on each wing suggesting active wing molt.
I believe this bird is in Basic 1 plumage (2nd calendar year) and it closely resembles photos of a similar bird seen at Marina, Monterey County last month. It is possible it is the same individual, although photos of the Marina bird show a more distinctly blue bill and a whiter collar than the bird we saw. However, those differences are not evident on the video of the Marina bird by Leslie Lieurance posted at http://www.gpvideo.com/crca.wmv (windows media) and http://www.gpvideo.com/crca.rm (real media).