Yellow-headed Caracara (also known as Garrapatero Cabeciamarillo)

This specimen is a light tan-brown wing feather from a Yellow-headed Caracara (Milvago chimachima). The adult is a distinctive, long-tailed raptor with a creamy yellow-buff head and underparts, a dark eye-stripe, and dark brown wings. Often seen perched on cattle or along roadsides.

Uniform pale brownish-tan to buffy greyish-brown across the vane, fading to a pale cream-buff base, corresponding closely to the brownish upperwing secondary or underwing covert tones of a Yellow-headed Caracara.

Densely interlocked pennaceous barbs along the majority of the blade providing aerodynamic structure, transitioning to a short plumulaceous (fluffy) downy base near the calamus.

The central shaft (rachis) is light brown transitioning to a pale ivory/cream calamus (quill) at the bottom. Barbs are evenly spaced with a light brown tone.

Smooth and firm texture with a slightly matte surface sheen typical of raptor and caracara flight feathers.

Wing feather (secondary or inner primary remex), as indicated by the mild asymmetry of the inner and outer vanes.

Pale buffy-tan color matching caracara wing plumage, light-colored rachis, moderate asymmetry indicating a wing remex, and compact Neotropical falconid proportions.

Savannas, pasturelands, river edges, forest borders, marshlands, and semi-open degraded habitats, common around Gamboa and the Panama Canal area.

Resident across Central and South America from southern Costa Rica and Panama south through Colombia, Venezuela, Brazil, and northern Argentina.

Functions as a scavenger and pest controller, eating carrion, insects, ticks, and small vertebrates, playing a vital cleanup role in Neotropical ecosystems.

Roadside Hawk (Buteo magnirostris) feathers have more distinct dark barring; Crested Caracara (Caracara plancus) feathers are much darker brown/blackish and considerably larger.

Yellow-headed Caracaras are opportunistic scavengers known for picking ticks and parasites off livestock, tapirs, and capybaras, earning them local names like 'Garrapatero' (tick-eater).

Neotropical raptor feathers are historically used in indigenous ornamentation and fly-tying, though protected by wildlife laws today.

Look around open perches, fence posts, and riverbanks in Gamboa where caracaras frequently roost and hunt.

Good condition with intact vanes and minor natural wear along the edges; clean base calamus indicating a naturally molted feather.

Found in Gamboa, Panama. It was near a yellow-headed Caraca but not sure if the feather came from it.