Crested Cara Cara

Mexico's national bird found living in San Jacinto County

A young falcon startled residents in a neighborhood off of FM 2025 in San Jacinto County on Monday, July 18.

Candice Wedgeworth and her husband Matthew noticed the large bird at about 1 p.m near a wooden fence across the street from their home on S. Southwind Trail.

“We had a guy come out looking at a tree to be cut down, and we saw him (the falcon) walking around in the grass,” Candice said on Monday. “We kept watching him, and the guy that was here went over there and said, ‘Yeah, he looks like he’s hurt.”

Worried that neighborhood dogs might attack and kill the bird, Candice began trying to find help for the animal.

“I called my vet thinking he would know who to call, and the lady that answered said, ‘I don’t know who you would call.’ And then I called Texas Parks and Rec (Recreation) and they said, ‘Let me give you the number to someone who rehabilitates them,’ and then they connected me with Bill Heyde.”

Heyde, a wildlife rescuer and rehabilitation specialist with the Texas Parks & Wildlife Department, arrived on the scene at around 4 p.m. expecting a difficult rescue operation.

But when Heyde approached the bird, it flew up into a nearby tree showing no signs of injury or distress.

“It just doesn’t get any better than this,” said Heyde on Monday. “When a bird flies off like that, we call it a perfect rehab. We don’t have to handle the bird, the bird’s healthy. It goes on and lives its life naturally.”

The falcon was found to be a male Crested Caracara, the national bird of Mexico and the most colorful bird of prey in the world. Primarily ground dwellers, they spend most of their time hunting prey on land.

Heyde said they also travel exclusively in pairs, which means there is - most likely - a female nesting nearby.

This was a very unusual event, Heyde explained, because the natural habitat of this predatory bird is mainly along the coastal regions of south Texas, Mexico and other areas in South America. Although the birds have been slowly migrating, the nearest documented family grouping is south of the Houston area. This is the first sighting ever recorded so far north.

Heyde is making arrangements to do a formal, scientific observation of the bird in San Jacinto County, in the hope they will locate the nest and be able to make an official documentation for further study.

The wildlife rescuer advises the public to never touch or approach a wounded animal in the wild.

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