Red-throated Caracara

How to find it

Seeing one is hard, so plan to listen as much as look. Calls often reveal the birds before anyone sees them, and groups call when foraging or moving between feeding sites. Once you hear them, scan the canopy along forest trails. It usually stays inside forest, so look in the canopy rather than open country, though it is sometimes seen on the ground. Focus on the lowlands around Golfo Dulce, where it is still regular. A group of six was reported near Bijagua, Nicaragua, close to the Costa Rican border, which suggests the southern Caribbean lowlands are worth checking.

How to recognise it

Look for a glossy black bird about 53 cm long with a bare red face and throat. The belly, thighs and undertail are white, a sharp contrast with the dark body. The tail is long and broad, which gives the bird a look a bit like a guan. The wings and tail are solid black.

It is told from the smaller Black Caracara by its larger size, though that species is not in Costa Rica. Here nothing else has all-black wings and tail with a red face.

What it sounds like

Recording: fern Wildtruth, CC BY 4.0, source, read 4 Nov 2026.

Behaviour and diet

For most of the year it roams in groups of 2 to 6 birds, and the groups break up when the breeding season starts. It feeds mainly on wasp and bee larvae, and also eats adult insects, fruits and berries.

At wasp nests the birds work together: some distract the adult insects while others reach the larvae inside. Birds are seen in high trees and sometimes on the ground. They can look a little off balance in flight and even when perched on a branch.

Where it lives

In Costa Rica it ranges from sea level up to about 1200 m, with local records even in parts of the Central Valley. It lives in the canopy and edges of humid forest, and also in nearby secondary growth and semi-open areas.

Long ago it covered the wet forests on both slopes. Today it is regular only in the lowlands around Golfo Dulce, in the southern Pacific.

Similar birds

No other Costa Rican raptor has a solid black tail and wings. No Costa Rican guan or curassow combines black plumage with a red face, even though the long, broad tail can first suggest a guan.

Names and lore in Costa Rica

Costa Ricans know it by several names: Cacao, Come Cacao, Deslenguado (roughly 'tongueless') and Caracara Avispera, which means 'wasp caracara'.

Status and conservation

The AOCR list marks it as a resident (R), and researchers say it is listed as critically endangered in Costa Rica.

Photography tips

Let the calls guide you, then scan the high canopy along forest trails, since it stays inside tall forest and is usually seen high in the trees. A feeding group at a wasp nest makes a lively scene, so patience near a calling group is worthwhile.