Chimango Caracara

Chimango Caracara

Milvago chimango

Daily sighting probability ~50% · Likely
at Torres del Paine National Park

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

861 Verified sightings at Torres del Paine National Park From 2019 to 2026
5,065 In all 6 parks
December 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 Torres del Paine National Park?

Likely

About 50% of wildlife watchers report a Chimango Caracara sighting in Torres del Paine National Park on a given day, based on 861 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 12th most-seen of the 108 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 Torres del Paine National Park?

November and December

In those months about 60% of wildlife watchers report a Chimango Caracara in Torres del Paine National Park on a given day, against about 10% in May–June and September, the lowest months.

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.

Which relatives of the Chimango Caracara live in Torres del Paine National Park?

Same family: Falconidae

The closest relatives of the Chimango Caracara that you can see in Torres del Paine National Park (family Falconidae, Falcons and Caracaras) are Crested Caracara (about 50%), American Kestrel (about 30%) and White-Throated Caracara (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 Torres del Paine National Park (861 verified sightings from 2019 to 2026), 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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