John Gluth brings up an interesting point. I'd noticed this damage to the left side of the head when viewing the bird yesterday but wanted to research it a little more before posting any speculation. In addition to the empty eye socket, some feathering above the eye also seemed a little messed up.
I have been trying to find out if the Crested Caracara observed earlier in the month (5 Apr 2015) on Cape Cod, MA, had a similarly damaged left eye. The only photo I've seen (http://sta.sh/01330a4fpbg4) was a little too distant to make a definitive statement, although I'm inclined to think the socket might be empty, which would seemingly connect the MA and NY sightings. Are there additional images beyond those included. Not sure about the bird that was in Maine in Sep 2014, the photos I've seen are equivocal. Would like to drill down on this further. It is clear the bird that was in the Princeton, NJ area in Sep 2012 had an intact left eye and I learned at the weekend that there are details to connect the NJ and ME birds. Can anyone comment? Interesting stuff! How many birds have wandering around the northeast coastal states in the past 4-5 years? Angus Wilson New York City, NY On Wed, Apr 15, 2015 at 12:23 PM, J GLUTH <jgl...@optonline.net> wrote: > I haven't been able to get up to Orange County to see the caracara in > person yet, but taking a closer look at some of the better photos embedded > in eBird checklists does indeed show what looks to be an empty socket where > the bird's left eye should be: > https://www.flickr.com/photos/129581436@N08/16951830230/sizes/o/ > https://www.flickr.com/photos/paulbourdin/16501112444/sizes/o/ > > John Gluth > Suffolk County > > -- > > NYSbirds-L List Info: > http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NYSbirdsWELCOME > http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NYSbirdsRULES > http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NYSbirdsSubscribeConfigurationLeave.htm > > ARCHIVES: > 1) http://www.mail-archive.com/nysbirds-l@cornell.edu/maillist.html > 2) http://www.surfbirds.com/birdingmail/Group/NYSBirds-L > 3) http://birdingonthe.net/mailinglists/NYSB.html > > Please submit your observations to eBird: > http://ebird.org/content/ebird/ > > -- > -- Angus Wilson New York City & The Springs, NY, USA http://birdingtotheend.blogspot.com/ -- NYSbirds-L List Info: http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NYSbirdsWELCOME http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NYSbirdsRULES http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NYSbirdsSubscribeConfigurationLeave.htm ARCHIVES: 1) http://www.mail-archive.com/nysbirds-l@cornell.edu/maillist.html 2) http://www.surfbirds.com/birdingmail/Group/NYSBirds-L 3) http://birdingonthe.net/mailinglists/NYSB.html Please submit your observations to eBird: http://ebird.org/content/ebird/ --
