A ’Mexican eagle’ stirs frenzy with rare Lowcountry appearance. Here’s where it landed

A Crested Caracara — a falcon with long legs and distinctive colors that’s native to South and Central America — made a rare visit to coastal South Carolina’s Lowcountry, prompting serious birders from as far away as Ohio to come see for themselves.

The Cornell Lab of Ornithology says the Crested Caracara — sometimes called the Mexican eagle — is instantly recognizable because of its long yellow-orange legs and sharp black cap set against a white neck and yellow-orange face.

Two Florida men who were visiting saw the bird at 3:50 p.m. Aug. 19 on Harbor Island, the small, gated-island community 14 miles east of Beaufort, and reported the sighting anonymously to eBird, the Cornell Lab’s online database of bird observations.

A rare bird sighting alert went out.

All serious birders use the Cornell Lab app — including Jenn Clementoni, who happens to live on Harbor Island. With her husband, John, she owns Birding Beaufort.

Jenn had never seen a Crested Caracara. Her heart was aflutter.

That night, determined to see the falcon for herself, Clementoni researched its habitat and behavior and came up with a plan. The next day, a Saturday, Aug. 20, she would sit along the Sea Island Parkway, between the Johnson Creek Bridge and Johnson Creek Tavern, as cars whizzed by, and wait for the falcon. The falcons, she knew from her research, frequently perch on the tallest tree or structure around.

“And lo and behold,” Clementoni said, “a couple of hours into it, it appeared on a telephone pole right before us.”

It was 2:12 p.m. Clementoni, who is also a Lowcountry master naturalist and photographer, couldn’t believe it. But the excitement was just beginning.

Later that evening, around 7:30 p.m. the falcon flew over her house.

And at 8:19 a.m. Sunday, Aug. 21, the Crested Caracara landed on a Sea Island Parkway pole again. Clementoni, now joined by a throng of 10 to 20, saw it for the third time.

“It was a pretty intense 48 hours,” Clementoni said.

With its sharp beak and formidable talons, a Crested Caracara looks like a hawk even though it behaves more like a vulture.

Clementoni was expecting its body to be similar to a turkey vulture. She was pleasantly surprised by its tall and slender features and long legs.

“Very pretty,” Clementoni said.

The last time there was a confirmed sighting of a Crested Caracara in South Carolina was seven years ago, Clementoni said. The Mt. Pleasant resident who saw the bird in 2015 was in the Outer Banks in North Carolina when he got word of the latest sighting, Clementoni said. On Sunday, eager to see one again, he drove eight hours, straight through, to Harbor Island, but the falcon was gone.

The last reported sighting was at 12:55 p.m. Sunday.

Other birders drove in from Columbia, S.C., Ohio and Georgia.

“If you want to hire people who are pretty dedicated,” Clementoni said, “it would be birders. It caused a really big frenzy.”

The Clementonis’ backyard is a marsh leading to the Atlantic Ocean.

They started the Birding Beaufort business in July. The couple offers tours around Beaufort and the Sea Islands.

On Harbor Island alone, 200 types of birds have been reported. Migratory birds, like shore birds, come through, flying back from the Arctic, or up from the south, from places like Argentina.

“They stop here and fuel back up,” Clementoni says, “so that’s why our beaches are so important.”

Maritime forests of the Lowcountry also provide great cover and food such as bugs and worms. Wading birds thrive in the marshes, where they feast on shrimp and other coastal cuisine.

But a Mexican eagle is an infrequent flier through South Carolina. It’s sometimes seen in extreme southern Florida and Texas, but the birds don’t migrate to the Arctic or northern U.S. breeding grounds.

“For something to appear randomly in South Carolina with no rhyme or reason,” Clementoni says, “is pretty spectacular.”

Clementoni isn’t sure why the falcon made an appearance in South Carolina. Usually when non-native birds show up they are migrating and are blown off course by winds and storms, she said.

“But because this bird isn’t a known migrator through this area,” Clementoni said, “it may be coincidence, he may be trying to establish a new territory.”

Maybe, she joked, “he heard how great the Lowcountry is.”