#1055 · 🐦 birds
Crested Caracara
🇳🇱 Kuifcaracara ·Caracara plancus
8 photos from iNaturalist (Creative Commons) · credits & licences
what is it?
The crested caracara ( Caracara plancus ) is a bird of prey in the family Falconidae. It is found from the southern United States through Central and South America to Tierra del Fuego. It was formerly placed in the genus Polyborus .
base stats
Bars compare against all animals on log scales: up to 300,000 Dutch and 600,000 worldwide sightings (the most-seen species), 150 t (blue whale), 30 m and 400 years (Greenland shark).
fun facts
- No confirmed wild sightings in the Netherlands on iNaturalist: you'd have to travel for this one.
- 68,812 observations worldwide on iNaturalist.
- Scientifically named by John Frederick Miller in 1777 (249 years ago).
fact sheet
- English
- Crested Caracara
- Nederlands
- Kuifcaracara
- scientific name
- Caracara plancus
- class
- Aves
- order
- Falconiformes
- family
- Falconidae
- IUCN Red List
- LC · least concern
- sightings in NL
- 0
- sightings in Europe
- 4
- sightings worldwide
- 68,812
- GBIF records in NL
- 36
- weight
- —
- length
- —
- lifespan
- —
- named
- 1777 by John Frederick Miller
IUCN in Dutch: niet bedreigd. Blank means the sources don't say.
relatives· Falconidae
#0566 📷 10Eurasian Kestrel
🇳🇱 Torenvalk
Falco tinnunculus
LC 👀 2.1k in NL
#0646 📷 10Peregrine Falcon
🇳🇱 Slechtvalk
Falco peregrinus
LC 👀 307 in NL
#0677 📷 7Eurasian Hobby
🇳🇱 Boomvalk
Falco subbuteo
LC 👀 211 in NL
#0767 📷 10Red-footed Falcon
🇳🇱 Roodpootvalk
Falco vespertinus
VU 👀 40 in NL
#0803 📷 8Merlin
🇳🇱 Smelleken
Falco columbarius
LC 👀 23 in NL
#0867 📷 10Gyrfalcon
🇳🇱 Giervalk
Falco rusticolus
LC 👀 9 in NL
#1033 📷 9American Kestrel
🇳🇱 Amerikaanse Torenvalk
Falco sparverius
LC 🌍 131.7k seen
#1105 📷 10Yellow-headed Caracara
🇳🇱 Geelkopcaracara
Daptrius chimachima
LC 🌍 22k seen
Sources: iNaturalist taxon 4715, Wikidata Q755119, GBIF 2480989, Wikipedia (EN), Wikipedia (NL). Intro text from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0).Updated 2026-10-24.