Aruba, Bolivia, Brazil (B), Cayman Islands, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, Ecuador, El Salvador, Falkland Islands (Malvinas), French Guiana, Guatemala, Guyana, Honduras, Mexico, Netherlands Antilles, Nicaragua, Panama, Peru, South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands, Suriname, Trinidad and Tobago, USA (B), Venezuela.
Vagrant to Jamaica.
Eastern Panama through central and eastern Colombia to the Guianas and south to northern Peru and R Amazon; Aruba (Netherlands Antilles) east to Trinidad.
Rarity Status
Currently this species is not classified as a rarity in this country OR information has not been updated.
Population
Estimated population is 2,000,000 (2010).
Northern Crested Caracara (Caracara cheriway) [XC542226]
by Manuel Grosselet from San agustin Etla, Peque\u00f1a colina, Mexico (song)
Northern Crested Caracara (Caracara cheriway) [XC460779]
by Manuel Grosselet from Orlando Wetlands, Christmas, Orange County, Florida, United States (call)
Subspecies
Polyborus plancus (Sibley and Monroe 1990, 1993) has been split into cheriway (AOU 2000, SACC 2005) and plancus (SACC 2005) and both placed in the genus Caracara following AOU (2000) and SACC (2005).
Considered by some authors to be a subspecies of Southern Caracara (Caracara plancus).
The following 3 subspecies are recognised:
pallidus (Nelson, 1898) - Tres Marías Is, off western Mexico.
audubonii Cassin, 1865 - Southern USA (Florida; Texas to Arizona) through Central America to western Panama; Cuba, I of Pines.
cheriway Jacquin, 1784 - Eastern Panama through central and eastern Colombia to the Guianas and south to northern Peru and R Amazon; Aruba (Netherlands Antilles) east to Trinidad. Considered by some authors to be a distinct species, Crested Caracara (Caracara cheriway).
BirdLife International Species Factsheet