The Caracara—A Most Remarkable Creature — Beautiful Hays County

An enthralling voyage of discovery to meet a rare and mysterious bird of prey that puzzled Darwin, fascinates modern-day falconers, and carries secrets of our planet's deep past in its family history. In 1833, Charles Darwin was astonished by a 'mischievous' animal he met in the Falklands: rare, crow-like falcons known today as striated caracaras. These clever, fearless birds of prey stole.. A Most Remarkable Creature is well sourced, taking information from indigenous and European sources for subjects across continents. The experiments conducted by scientists are provided in digestible detail to explain much of what we know about these birds.

Unlike the fresh-meat diet of most birds of prey, caracara eat nearly everything, including insects, carrion, garbage, mucus, feces, and, according to Falkland lore, "cans of engine grease." Possessing an insatiable curiosity and intelligence, they have no fear of man, a recipe for extinction, which may be their fate.. " A Most Remarkable Creature is much more than a scientific profile. It is a grand intellectual adventure involving dinosaurs, DNA, naturalists, exploration and survival. Meiburg is a gifted storyteller, and one can't help but fall under the same spell he did." —Lauren O'Brien, Shelf Awareness