Owner Comments:
As many collectors of Mexican coins know, most of the absolutely lovely coins of this North American nation show a depiction of the national bird, the Golden Eagle, perched on a cactus and killing a snake with its beak. This depiction is based off of a sacred eagle depicted in several Aztec codices which were in turn interpreted by the European conquerors of the Aztec Empire. However, there are several problems with this interpretation of the Golden Eagle. First off, Golden Eagles are mainly mammal killers and they always kill their prey with their feet, not their beaks. Golden Eagles use their beaks for eating, preening and grooming. They never kill with them. Even in an unlikely hypothetical situation where a Golden Eagle did prey upon a snake, it would likely crush it with its talons, only bringing it to its beak when the snake was already dead. Secondly, there’s the size of the snake in relation to the Golden Eagle. A Golden Eagle is a very large raptor, and it would have to be wrangling with a python in order for the proportions of this depiction to be correct. The Mexican eagle also shows a distinct crest on the head, a feature Golden Eagles do not have. There’s also a geographic range problem. While Golden Eagles do range into northern Mexico on occasion, they are a very rare bird to actually sight in Mexico. So, the bird on the Mexican coat of arms is either a one in a billion-chance sighting of a Golden Eagle acting nothing like a Golden Eagle in a region where they are extremely rare or it’s a case of mistaken identity.
In the 1960’s, Mexican ornithologist Rafael Martín del Campo noted these problems with the Mexican “Golden Eagle” and determined that there was no way that the sacred Aztec eagle was actually a Golden Eagle, or even an eagle at all. So, who is this mysterious Mexican snake eating, beak killing, crested dinosaur? Del Campo’s excellent work gives us the answer: The Northern Crested Caracara, species name Caracara cheriway.
Northern Crested Caracaras are actually members of the Falcon family, but they are not fast-moving dinosaur killers like their Falcon cousins. Rather, they are slower moving predators of snakes and other reptiles along with being extensive scavengers. The Northern Crested Caracara ranges from 19 to 23 inches in length, with a wingspan of 3.5 to 4.25 feet and a weight range from 1.7 to 3 pounds. Clearly, these proportions would work well compared to the size of the rattlesnake in the depiction in the Mexican coat of arms. They have black bodies with white breasts with black bars, along with white patches on the wings and neck with yellow legs, faces that are yellow to orange red and a black crest that makes this modern dinosaur look like he’s wearing a little black toupee. Females are larger than males. Overall, the Northern Crested Caracara is actually very cute in real life. Geographically, Northern Crested Caracaras range from Mexico down to northern Brazil and Peru, preferring an arid and hot habitat that is open or semi open country. There is also a relict population of these birds left over from the last glacial period in parts of Florida.
Northern Crested Caracaras, and other Caracaras as well, feed largely on carrion but they do prey on small reptiles including snakes, lizards and small birds, small mammals and insects and other invertebrates. When they do hunt, Northern Crested Caracaras actually hunt on foot, kicking over branches and rocks to find prey animals. Like the Bald Eagle, Northern Crested Caracaras are notorious kleptoparasites, capable of stealing kills from other predatory birds including small hawks, pelicans, ibises and spoonbills. They can also drive vultures away from carrion with vicious attacks. For a smaller raptor, they pack a big punch when attacking to steal food.
Northern Crested Caracaras are gregarious raptors, with roosts sometimes containing up to a dozen individuals, though they are monogamous breeders. Breeding season for these modern dinosaurs is from December to May. Each pair produces from 1 to 3 pinkish-brown spotted eggs in a stick nest, which has been described by observers as “untidy” in appearance. The eggs are incubated by both parents for 28 to 32 days after which the eggs hatch. The babies are born fuzzy and completely helpless. They fledge after about two months and remain with their parents for several weeks after their first flight. Northern Crested Caracaras can live for over 21 years.
All in all, the Northern Crested Caracara is a very interesting modern dinosaur and it’s sad that it doesn’t get its rightful place as Mexico’s national bird. Hopefully, the Mexican government will reconsider the issue and reexamine this fascinating and unique modern theropod and give it its rightful place on the coins and flag of Mexico.
This coin has an interesting, very 1990's story about how it came into my possession as well. This 1982 Libertad was the very first Mexican coin I ever purchased and I purchased it from a coin shop in Fresno, CA when I was living there in 1999. This was during the Beanie Baby insanity during the late 1990's, and the coin shop I frequented then started carrying Beanie Babies because people would actually come into the coin shop and trade collectible coins and bullion for Beanie Babies. This 1982 Libertad came from a lot of almost a thousand of these coins that someone traded for Peanut, the Royal Blue Elephant, which was apparently the most valuable Beanie Baby then, with a value of almost $5000 at the time......it's crazy to think about someone actually trading hundreds of ounces of silver for a royal blue stuffed elephant, but that's exactly what happened. I wonder how that individual feels about that trade today! As for myself, I'm thankful that this coin is the closest I ever got to the Beanie Baby fad.