A buzzard by any other name may not have killed animals, commenters say

Bird experts deluged the Times-Review Web site this week with critical comments after a story about the sightings of birds of prey in southeastern Johnson County that, according to the story, appeared to be crested caracara, also known as Mexican buzzards. According to the Web site peregrinefund.org, crested caracara is the formal name. The same site said the crested caracara is also known as king buzzard, Mexican eagle and Audubon’s caracara and Mexican buzzard. The Times-Review story quoted a woman residing between Rio Vista and Parker as saying the birds in question had scavenged a newborn calf and a cat. She said she believed the animals to have been killed by the birds. The story also quoted a local goat rancher as saying he had heard of attacks on baby goats by Mexican buzzards. The rancher suggested using guard animals to monitor herds. Not correct, Sheri Williamson wrote on the Times-Review Web site. “The northern (a.k.a. crested) caracara is strikingly marked in black and white and has a fully feathered head except for a patch of bare orange skin at the base of its bill. They are predators as well as scavengers but seldom kill animals larger than a cottontail rabbit or large snake,” she reported...CleburneTimesReview