Andean foothills, heathland, shrub–steppe, and marshes. It also occurs in open woods, plantations, villages, suburban and urban areas, and coastal flats. In Argentina it is often found along roads and areas with a mix of pristine and disturbed plots. One author says it is most common in the ranching and wheat belt of the Argentinian Pampas, around Chilean fishing villages, around extensive marshlands, and at "rubbish dumps anywhere". It is the most common raptor in Argentinean Patagonia. In elevation it is most common below but is regularly found up to and occasionally as high as . Behavior Movement The chimango caracara is a year-round resident in most of its range. Populations in the far south are partially migratory, with individuals moving north mostly in the austral winter. Members of the northern populations move into Boliva in the non-breeding season and also in small numbers as far north in Brazil as Minas Gerais and Goiás. There are a few records from the Falkland Islands. Feeding The chimango caracara is omnivorous, "a small-scale predator and general scavenger". Its live prey includes insects and other invertebrates, lizards, amphibians, the eggs and young of other birds, and rodents. It scavenges small roadkill and also the carcasses of larger animals after other predators have left. It eats smaller amounts of vegetable matter like rotten apples, fungi, and what it can glean from horse and cattle dung. It typically forages on the wing, flying somewhat randomly up to above the ground and dropping onto prey or other food sources. It often follows farmers as they plow (assemblies of more than 100 birds have been observed), congregates at grass fires, and frequents fishing villages and shellfish processing plants for their waste. It pirates food from other raptors and large waterbirds. Individuals have been observed catching live fish from the surface of water. Breeding The chimango caracara's breeding season spans September to January, with eggs laid from mid-October to mid-November in much of its range. It usually nests in trees, building a stick platform up to about above the ground, but much lower in Patagonia and oriented to avoid prevailing winds. In areas with few trees it will nest on the ground or on tussocks in a marsh. Tree nests of adjoining pairs are usually fairly far apart. Ground nesting can be colonial, for example an observation of more than 70 nests in a site. The clutch size