The southern crested caracara (Caracara plancus), also known as the southern caracara or carancho, is a bird of prey in the Falconidae family. As currently defined, the southern crested caracara is confined to central and southern South America. Previously, the northern crested caracara (C. cheriway) from the southern United States, Mexico, Central America, and northern South America, and the extinct Guadalupe caracara were included as a subspecies. Like its relatives, it was formerly placed in the genus Polyborus.
It has a total length of 50-65 cm and a wingspan of 120-132 cm. The weight is 0.9-1.6 kg (2.3.5 pounds), averaging 1,348 g (2,972 pounds) in 7 birds from Tierra del Fuego. Individuals from the colder southern part of their average range larger than those from tropical regions (as predicted by Bergmann's rule) and are the largest type of caracara. In fact, they are the second largest species of hawk in the world by average body mass, second only to the gyrfalcon. The cap, belly, thighs, most of the wings and the tip of the tail are dark brown, the ear, throat and nape are white-buff, and the chest, neck, mantle, back, uppertail- coverts, crissum (the undertail coverts that surround the cloaca) and the basal part of the tail are whitish-varnished dark brown. In flight, the outer primaries show a large whitish patch ("window"), as in several other species of caracaras. Legs are yellow and bare facial skin and cherry are dark yellow to reddish orange. Juveniles resemble adults but are paler, striped across the chest, neck, and back, gray legs, and whitish, later pinkish purple, facial skin, and cereal.
It can be separated from the similar northern caracara by its more extensive barrier on the chest, brownish and often slightly mottled / barred scapulae (all blackish in the north), and pale lower back with dark barrier (uniform blackish in the north). Individuals showing intermediate characteristics are known from the small contact area in north-central Brazil, but the intergradation between the two species is generally limited.
