Nombre en español: Pigua
Nombre en ingles: Yellow-headed Caracara
Nombre cientifico: Daptrius chimachima
Familia: Falconidae
El chimachimá o caracara chimachima (Daptrius chimachima), es una especie de ave falconiforme de la familia Falconidae propia de América Central y del Sur.
Nombres comunes
Al chimachimá también se le llama chimachima, chiriguare, caricare sabanero, pigua, caracara bayo, chimango, caracara cabeciamarillo, caracara chimachima y gavilán pollero.
Distribución
Su distribución geográfica se extiende desde el sur de Costa Rica hasta el norte de Argentina y Uruguay. Su distribución en América del Sur es al este de los Andes y prácticamente continua. Es posible que su hábitat esté en expansión. Está anidando en la isla de Trinidad y Venezuela. En Argentina se distribuye por las provincias del noreste, Misiones, Chaco, Formosa, Corrientes,Santa Fe (norte).
Características
No hay dimorfismo sexual en el plumaje de la especie. Las hembras, como es común en el orden Falconiformes son más grandes y pesadas. La hembra pesa entre 310 y 360 gramos. El machos pesa entre 280 y 330 gramos. La longitud total es de aproximadamente 37 a 46 cm.
Se diferencia del chimango común, por poseer un plumaje color amarillo castaño claro y las alas castaño oscuro. Es un chimango más pálido, pero más contrastado en coloración, presenta una línea postocular (no antifaz) negruzca. Las primarias en vuelo de ven color blanco, con manchas oscuras desde la parte inferior, siendo los bordes oscuros. Su canto es muy característico.
Historia natural
En algunas áreas es común, en otras es abundante. Es sedentaria aunque se desplaza estacionalmente. Su límite altitudinal es desde el nivel del mar hasta los 1800 metros en general, habiéndose registrado en ocasiones a 2600 metros de altura.
Habita en zonas donde la vegetación no es muy alta; como pastizales dedicados a la ganadería y campos dedicados a la agricultura. Es más arborícola que el chimango común y suele posarse sobre los animales, limpiándolos de garrapatas. Se mantiene solitario y en parejas. Se alimenta de carroña; pequeños vertebrados, artrópodos, frutas y vegetales. El nido es una plataforma en las ramas de un árbol. Pone uno o dos huevos, por nidada.
Subespecies
Se conocen dos subespecies de Daptrius chimachima
- Daptrius chimachimachimachima – del Brasil al sur del Amazonas al este de Bolivia, Paraguay y norte de Argentina.
- Daptrius chimachima cordatus – del sudoeste de Costa Rica a Brasil al norte del Amazonas; Trinidad.
Yellow-headed caracara
The yellow-headed caracara (Daptrius chimachima) is a bird of prey in the family Falconidae. It is found in tropical and subtropical South America and the southern portion of Central America. Unlike the falcons in the same family, the caracara is not a fast-flying aerial hunter, but is rather sluggish and often obtains food by scavenging.
Systematics
When Louis Jean Pierre Vieillot first described the yellow-headed caracara in 1816, he gave it the scientific name Polyborus chimachima, putting it in the same genus as the rest of the caracaras. In 1824, German naturalist Johann Baptist von Spix created the genus Milvagofor this species and the closely related chimango caracara.
Description
The yellow-headed caracara is 41–46 cm (16–18 in) in length and weighs 325 g (11.5 oz) on average. Like many other birds of prey, the female is larger than the male, weighing 310–360 g (11–13 oz) against the male’s 280–330 g (9.9–11.6 oz). Apart from the difference in size, there is no significant sexual dimorphism in this species. It is broad-winged and long-tailed, somewhat resembling a small Buteo. The adult has a buff head, with a black streak behind the eye, and buff underparts. The upper plumage is brown with distinctive pale patches on the flight feathers of the wings, and the tail is barred cream and brown. The head and underparts of immature birds have dense brown mottling.
The voice is a characteristic screamed schreee.
Distribution and habitat
This is a bird of savanna, swamps and forest edges. Resident from Costa Rica south through Trinidad and Tobago to northern Argentina(the provinces of Misiones, Chaco, Formosa, Corrientes and Santa Fe), it is typically found from sea level to 1,800 m (5,900 ft), and occasionally to 2,600 m (8,500 ft) above mean sea level. In southern South America, it is replaced by a close relative, the chimango caracara, whose range overlaps with that of the yellow-headed caracara in southern Brazil, northern Argentina, Paraguay and Uruguay. A larger and stouter paleosubspecies, Milvago chimachima readei, occurred in Florida and possibly elsewhere some tens of thousand years ago, during the Late Pleistocene. According to the Peregrine Fund database, the yellow-headed caracara is expanding its range into Nicaragua.
Behavior and ecology
The yellow-headed caracara is omnivorous, and will eat reptiles, amphibians and other small animals as well as carrion. Birds are rarely if ever taken, and this species will not elicit warning calls from mixed-species feeding flocks that cross its path even in open cerrado habitat. It will also take ticks from cattle, and is sometimes called the tickbird. It has been observed also to forage for small invertebrates in the fur of brown-throated three-toed sloths and capybaras. In addition, at least younger birds are fond of certain fruits, such as those of the oil palm (Elaeis guineensis) and pequi (Caryocar brasiliense). It lays from five to seven brown-marked buff eggs in a stick nest in a tree.
The yellow-headed caracara has benefited from forest clearing for cattle ranching. Its status in Trinidad has changed from rare to fairly common, and it was first seen on Tobago in 1987. It adapts readily to urban areas and, together with species such as the American black vulture (Coragyps atratus), it is among the most commonly seen bird of prey in Latin American cities. Consequently, this wide-ranging species has been assigned a risk level of Least Concern category on the IUCN Red List. In Panama City for example, as a result of the increased urban sprawl, yellow-headed caracara pairs are frequently seen along the rooftops in suburban neighborhoods.
Wikipedia/eBird/xeno-canto
