Black Laughingthrush

Slender, long-tailed, chickenlike bird that is often seen in small groups. Grayish-brown overall with a warmer chestnut head. At close range note the bare red throat patch and pinkish legs. Found in forest, second-growth woodlands, and river edges. Limited range in central Brazil, south of the Amazon river.. Somewhat similar to Spix’s and Marail Guans, but Chestnut-headed Chachalaca is much smaller and is unlikely to be in canopy of tall forest. Usually quiet, but groups call loudly to each other early in the morning; unmistakable call can be heard for more than a kilometer. Once considered conspecific with Variable Chachalaca, but Chestnut-headed is smaller and has a slower song.

A small bird with a very long blue tail that is held cocked. Breeding male has a bright pale-blue helmet, black breast, purple back, and chestnut shoulders. Small pale tips are sometimes visible on the tail. Over much of the species’s inland range, females are overall grayish birds with pale fronts and long blue tails; however, females of the subspecies found in the sandstone regions of the Kimberley and Arnhem Land have contrasting blue crowns and backs. This species occurs over much of arid inland Australia and is found in open vegetation.

A distinctive songbird with a long tail, often cocked to expose the diagnostic cinnamon sides. Also note the gray back, cinnamon flash in the wing, and buff belly. Juvenile has a buffy eyebrow and spotted back. Inhabits forest, edge, mangroves, and scrub in low-lying areas, often boldly perching in the open. Frequently joins mixed-species flocks. The only gray-backed, long-tailed songbird in its range in the eastern Lesser Sundas. Song is a slow, lazy human-like whistle, “pe-pe-pee-pee-pee,” notably ascending on the last three notes. Also gives a nasal “chup” note.