Reports on hunting behaviors, with details on tactics and strategies applied for prey acquisiton, are uncommon for raptor species living in Patagonia, where most diet information comes from pellet studies (Trejo and Ojeda 2002, 2015). Here we detail a successful predation event involving an adult Crested Caracara (Caracara plancus) hunting a fledgling American Kestrel (Falco sparverius) in northwestern Argentinean Patagonia. These falconid species rank among the most widely distributed diurnal raptors in the western hemisphere, where they are considered generalist open-habitat species (including urbanized land) and co-occur extensively (Smallwood and Bird 2020, Morrison and Dwyer 2021).
Since 2017, intensive monitoring of nest boxes installed for Tachycineta swallows in Fortín Chacabuco, a cattle ranch located near Bariloche city, Argentina (41°00′S, 71°10′W), allowed us to opportunistically find nests from various bird species, including American Kestrels and Crested Caracaras. Pairs of these raptor...