Two separated photos of a male (left) and female Crested Caracara in side view facing each other. Each is throwing their head backwards. They are large raptors with dark brown bodies, speckled brown on white breast and white throat and neck with a dark, almost black crest on top of the head and bright orange eye and face and a gray bill. The male's legs and feet can be seen and they are also bright orange. He is standing in a sandy, flat area and has one leg back and back of foot raised, with green and brown grasses in front of him and in the background. The female is in green grasses too tall to show her legs and there is grass in the background. Her head is back so far, her crest is on her back and her head is completely upside down horizontally.
This encounter happened as the female, in company with some vultures, was beginning to work on some carrion in the grasses. The male flew in and landed nearby and began to court her by calling and head throwing. She apparently agreed to wait for her food. Right after she did her own head throw and call, the male flew over, landed on her back, and they mated. It took almost no time and after the male finished, she went right back to her meal.
For the sake of this illustration of caracara courtship, I took some distracting elements out of the background on these images.
Male (left) and female Crested Caracaras (Caracara plancus) Doing courting head throws and calling just before mating at Kissimmee Prairie Preserve. The #BirdoftheDay theme is #MarriedCouples. This may be more like the wedding pictures!
#birds #KissimmeePrairie #Florida #naturephotography
