A medium-sized caracara with a faintly blue beak tip turning to bright orange, strongly contrasted by the jet-black feathers of its head, back and chest.

[5] Despite an important food source being carcasses, the Mountain Caracara's head and throat remain feathered (unlike some vultures), and only its lores are kept naked.

Those living in the high plains of northwestern Argentina seem to rely more heavily on animal carcasses as a food source, while some studied in the Andes of South Central Chile left pellets that were composed mostly of insect remains (up to 94%).

[8] These birds scratch and stamp at the dirt to scare up bugs from the ground and flip over rocks to find more arthropods and even rodents.

Even though the hunting party may be able to overturn bigger rocks and cover more ground, the prey captured is usually not shared amongst the hunters and usually little to no benefit is received by the youngest in the group.

The Caracara that decides on the most likely rock to move is usually the bird who grabs and eats the prey, though if enough food is available, all members could potentially receive a meal at some point during their forage.

It is supposed that the Phalcoboenus taxa diverged within themselves roughly 0.6 million years ago when there was a large amount of glacial activity in the area.