New episode - All Things Caracaras with Jonathan Meiburg

Our short trailer offers a first look at the new episode from OutBirding with Field Guides. Please subscribe for the full episode and our complete video library.

On March 30th, 2021, a wonderful new natural history book from Knopf began hitting bookstores everywhere - Jonathan Meiburg’s A Most REMARKABLE Creature, the Hidden Life and Epic Journey of the World’s Smartest Birds of Prey.  It’s everything caracaras, and so much more, as Jonathan and Bret Whitney take us on a journey through 65 million years and tens of thousands of miles of South American landscapes.  We learn a great deal about this odd group of New World raptors, most closely related to falcons, as we accompany Jonathan from the remote outer islands of the Falklands group, where he studied Striated Caracaras, through the Andean altiplano and Amazonia to the ancient Guianan Shield.  Many colorful personalities populate his pages, from such early caracara contemplators as Charles Darwin and William Henry Hudson through to Red-throated Caracara expert Sean McCann (Sean's blog contains a wealth of information).  Along the way we come to appreciate just how remarkable the caracaras truly are.  The episode plays out with a caracara’s-eye view of some of the diverse habitats of South America, with Jonathan’s highly acclaimed band, Shearwater, providing the soundtrack.  Video of a Shearwater performance recorded live on 25 March 2016 in the studio of KEXP-FM public radio in Seattle is here.