By MAULI [CC BY-SA 2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons
Crested Caracara Caracara plancus
Status
Category E
Native Range
North and South America. Southern Texas and Mexico through central America to Colombia, Venezuela, northern and eastern Brazil southwards to Cape Horn and the Falkland Islands. As a bird of open country it is absent from forested Amazonia.
Conservation Status
Least Concern
British Occurrence
NBN atlas has 14 records as at end 2024. Map Here.
Notes
At the beginning of 2025,the category E list has Northern Crested Caracara Caracara cheriway. There have been many changes to the systematics of this widespread taxa but the latest consensus, following mitochondrial and nuclear sequencing is that there is just one species as above.
How reliable the identification of the Brit-ish bird(s) were, I can't say but if it was C. cheriway that "race" is the one occupying Mexico and the southern US.
