SYDNEY, N.S. – At a time of year when many Cape Bretoners are dreaming of tropical beaches, one visitor to this island is probably feeling winter more acutely than most.

For the past 10 days, a crested caracara has been spotted in the Frenchvale and Balls Creek area near Sydney, far north of its usual home in Mexico and the southern U.S.

Also called a Mexican eagle, the caracara is essentially a tropical falcon version of a vulture.

Instead of its usual diet of lizards, snakes and carrion, this bird has been joining local seagulls and crows at neighbourhood bird feeders.

Kris Tynski says he first saw the bird on Saturday and managed to snap photos Sunday morning.

David McCorquodale, dean of science at Cape Breton University, also saw the crested caracara on the weekend and says it may be the same bird seen on Lawrencetown Beach last spring and then again near Port Hawkesbury just before Christmas.