Our ecologists and one of the leading experts on crested caracara, Dr. Joan Morrison, had their work cut out for them by this threatened Florida species. The caracara eluded our team for weeks as they attempted to capture three birds to attach cellular transmitters in order to track their movements. These clever birds have a distinct memory and never fall for the same trick twice, which made capturing them a challenge.

The team was eventually able to successfully capture and deploy three different GPS/GSM transmitters on three separate adult caracaras in hopes to watch and learn more about their habits. These caracara’s movements are being tracked and the data is transmitting every few hours, allowing us to analyze it using Google Maps.

This information will also be used to determine which transmitter will be best used in future studies for tracking the birds as part of a study for the United States Fish & Wildlife Service (FWS).

To see our team in action and learn more about the crested caracara directly from Dr. Joan Morrison, view the documentary film produced by Into Nature Films at www.vimeo.com/94248235.

For more information on conducting caracara surveys, contact the Director of our Environmental group at [email protected].