High Quality Content by WIKIPEDIA articles! The Northern Caracara, or Crested Caracara as it is properly known where it lives in the Americas, is a bird of prey in the family Falconidae. It was formerly considered conspecific with the Southern Caracara (C. plancus) and the extinct Guadalupe Caracara (C. lutosa) as the "Crested Caracara". It has also been known as the Northern Crested Caracara and the Audubon`s Caracara. As with its relatives, the Northern Caracara was formerly placed in the genus Polyborus. Unlike the Falco falcons in the same family, the caracaras are not fast-flying aerial hunters, but are rather sluggish and often scavengers.