Posted to r/PicsOfUnusualBirds, 16 hours ago, by u/ProletarianParka.
Northern Crested Cara Cara
ProletarianParka, 16 hours ago
Image credit to Shadow Hunter from Flickr / Wikipedia.
Saw one of these picking at roadkill as I drove by, and got a look and said “what the heck is that thing.” I remembered enough details to ID it as the Northern Crested Cara Cara. Which strangely enough is a falcon.
From wikipedia:
The behaviors of caracaras are considered quite strange in relation to other falcons.[8] The bird is often seen walking on the ground in search of prey, using its long legs to maneuver its landscapes.[9] In addition to a preference of walking over flying, the birds also create close bonds with their mates. Caracaras are territorial creatures who are year-round landlords of trees and land that they occupy. Their aggressiveness is an extension of this which why they have been seen taking food from much larger creatures like vultures.[10][11] In flight, this bird is known for having very direct flight. It does not soar for leisure
Sweet.
The University of Southern North Dakota at Hoople
Wossamotta U
As of 17 May, 2022, there are 22,625! (wait, whAT?! 
)
↑ GIF by ArMaP
A Dillingham pilot says he spotted the creature while flying passengers to Manokotak last week. He calculated that its wingspan matched the length of a wing on his Cessna 207. That’s about 14 feet.
“It is no measure of health to be well adjusted to a profoundly sick society.”
← This sequence is cropped (and looped) from the last 10 frames of the video captured on Sol 6 by a camera on the lander for NASA’s Mars Pathfinder rover. Not enough pixels, but still, mighty impressive. This evidence was discovered -way- back in the day by 
