Chimango Caracara

Chimango Caracara

Milvago chimango

Daily sighting probability ~60% · Likely
at Buenos Aires

In 3 days ~90% in a week >90%

9,925 Verified sightings at Buenos Aires
5,065 In all 6 parks From 2019 to 2026
July Best month
☀️ Diurnal When it's spotted

About the Chimango Caracara

The chimango caracara (Daptrius chimango), also known as chimango or tiuque, is a species of bird of prey in the family Falconidae, the falcons and caracaras. It is found in Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Paraguay, and Uruguay, as a vagrant on the Falkland Islands and has been introduced on Rapa Nui.

The chimango caracara was formally described in 1816 by French ornithologist Louis Vieillot under the binomial name Polyborus chimango. Vieillot based his account on the "Chimango" from Paraguay that had been described by the Spanish naturalist Félix de Azara in 1802. The specific epithet and the common name are from a local Argentinian onomatopoeia word "Chimango" for a caracara. The chimango caracara was formerly placed with the yellow-headed caracara in the genus Milvago. Molecular genetic studies found that Milvago was polyphyletic with the chimango caracara sister to the genus Phalcoboenus and the yellow-headed caracara sister to Daptrius. As the genetic divergence was relatively shallow, the polyphyly was resolved by expanding the genus Daptrius to include the two other genera.

Wikipedia →

Sounds

Call0:22

Argentina · 2022

© Marcos E. Sosa · XC1001791 · CC BY-NC-SA 4.0

Song0:55

Argentina · 2021

© Guillermo Treboux · XC777864 · CC BY-NC-SA 4.0

Uncertain0:19

Chile · 2022

© Cristian Pinto Fernandez · XC711461 · CC BY-NC-SA 4.0

Global Distribution

Parks Where Found

# Park Country Daily sighting probability
1 Tierra del Fuego National Park 🇦🇷 Argentina
~80%
2 Nahuel Huapi National Park 🇦🇷 Argentina
~60%
3 Vicente Pérez Rosales National Park 🇨🇱 Chile
~60%
4 Torres del Paine National Park 🇨🇱 Chile
~50%
5 Península Valdés 🇦🇷 Argentina
~30%
6 Iberá National Park 🇦🇷 Argentina
~30%

Cities Where Found

# City Country Daily sighting probability
1 Santiago 🇨🇱 Chile
~80%
2 Cordoba 🇦🇷 Argentina
~60%
3 Buenos Aires 🇦🇷 Argentina
~60%
4 Mendoza 🇦🇷 Argentina
~40%
5 Rosario 🇦🇷 Argentina
~40%
6 Curitiba 🇧🇷 Brazil
<5%
7 Montevideo 🇺🇾 Uruguay
<5%
8 Porto Alegre 🇧🇷 Brazil
<5%

Zoos & Centres Where Found

# Zoo / Centre Country
1 Le rocher des aigles 🇫🇷 France In captivity
2 Zoobotanic Park of Brusque 🇧🇷 Brazil In captivity
3 Pumakawa (reserva de vida silvestre) 🇦🇷 Argentina In captivity
4 Donjon des aigles 🇫🇷 France In captivity

Before you go

What are the chances of seeing a Chimango Caracara in Buenos Aires?

Likely

About 60% of wildlife watchers report a Chimango Caracara sighting in Buenos Aires on a given day, based on 9,925 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data. It is the 15th most-seen of the 277 birds we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 90%, and over a week to over 90%, if each day is a fresh chance.

When is the best time to see a Chimango Caracara in Buenos Aires?

June to August

In those months about 70% of wildlife watchers report a Chimango Caracara in Buenos Aires on a given day, against about 40% in February, the lowest month.

What time of day is best to see a Chimango Caracara?

Between 10 am and 1 pm

Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Chimango Caracara sightings with a recorded time, and about 9 in 10 of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is a daytime animal.

Is Buenos Aires the best place to see a Chimango Caracara?

3rd of 8

Of the 8 cities where we can rate Chimango Caracara sightings, Buenos Aires ranks 3rd at about 60%. The best odds are in Santiago (Chile, about 80%) and Cordoba (Argentina, about 60%).

Which relatives of the Chimango Caracara live in Buenos Aires?

Same family: Falconidae

The closest relatives of the Chimango Caracara that you can see in Buenos Aires (family Falconidae, Falcons and Caracaras) are Crested Caracara (about 70%) and American Kestrel (about 10%), with each one's daily chance of a sighting.

Where does the Chimango Caracara sighting chance come from?

GBIF citizen-science records

It is estimated from how often the Chimango Caracara is recorded against all the birds logged in Buenos Aires (9,925 verified sightings), calibrated against known sighting rates. Figures are rounded to the nearest 10% because citizen-science data supports honest approximations, not decimals, and months with records from fewer than five people show "—". How it works.

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