Full body scrub: the Chimango Caracara

Milvago chimango temucoensis is the subspecies of the Chimango Caracara found in southern Chile and Argentina. It is a bird of prey, about 17″long with a wingspan of about three feet. They seemed to be everywhere, and the one below is dive-bombing my friend Kerstin.

They hunt small prey like lizards, insects, and mice, and scavenge larger prey. We found one near our Hotel Parque Tepuhueico in Chiloé, having a dustbath :

The purpose is probably to remove parasites, though it has also been suggested that it removes excess lipids deposited on the feathers from the uropygial preening gland. You can see it in action in this video:

It seemed to enjoy that lovely glow you get after a good body scrub:

I’ll end with an entirely different bird that somehow never found a place in any other post, the endearing Rufous-collared Sparrow, Zonotrichia capensis:

It sang its tiny heart out on a fencepost:

It is common over much of South America, and tolerant of human presence.