Plain Chachalaca
Ortalis vetula
Large chickenlike bird found in brushy woodland. Olive-brown overall with warmer buffy belly and long tail and neck. Bare red moustache is usually hidden. Tail feathers have white tips. Extremely noisy and full of character. Small groups crash through the brush from tree to tree with the grace of a large bulldozer. Often heard "singing" a cacophony of grating shouts and squawks. Feeds mainly on fruit.
Identification
The plain chachalaca is a medium-sized galliform, around the size of a common pheasant. It measures 48–58 cm (19–23 in) in length, and varies in weight from 468–794 g (16.5–28.0 oz) for males and 439–707 g (15.5–24.9 oz)in females Males are on average larger but because of overlap that isn't diagnostic of sex, and in appearance they are the same. It is long-necked with a small head and bare throat patch which becomes deep red in both sexes during the breeding season. Adults have a greyish head and neck with a dull olive-brown body and wings. The underbelly is pale to ochraceous and the tail is blackish with green gloss and buffy-white tip. The iris is brown and bill is black; orbital skin and the feet are dull grey.<p>O. vetula is a host to the helminth parasite Dispharynx nasuta. Christensen & Pence 1977 find they carry D. nasuta but not Echinuria uncinata, Streptocara crassicauda, or Streptocara incognita.
Taxonomy
The plain chachalaca is related to the West Mexican chachalaca and the white-bellied chachalaca, and both of these were formerly considered a subspecies of the plain chachalaca. Today all major authorities recognize them as separate species. Their ranges slightly overlap in Mexico, but hybrids have not been reported between them. The white-bellied chachalaca may be more closely related to the little chachalaca than the plain chachalaca.<p>There are five recognized subspecies:<p>The isolated population in Costa Rica is assigned to the nominate race of the plain chachalaca, but has also been assigned to the white-bellied chachalaca and may in fact represent a new subspecies of the plain chachalaca - its plumage is closer to this species than the white-bellied.
- Scientific name
- Ortalis vetula
- Authority
- (Wagler, 1830)
- Order
- Galliformes
- Family
- Cracidae
- Genus
- Ortalis
Range and habitat
The plain chachalaca is found from Texas, in the Lower Rio Grande, through the eastern coast of Mexico, the Yucatán Peninsula, Belize, northern Guatemala, northern Honduras and just into the north central part of Nicaragua, with a small population on the Nicoya Peninsula of northern Costa Rica. The species has also been introduced and established to San Patricio County in Texas and three islands, Sapelo, Blackbeard and Little St. Simons Island, on the coast of Georgia. In some of its mainland North American introduced range it is considered invasive.: 292 <p>The plain chachalaca occupies a wide range of habitats, including primary forest, secondary forest, forest edge and riverine forest, thorny bush-scrub, and shrubland. It is also found in human modified habitats such as orchards, suburban parks and gardens and croplands. Unlike other cracids, it is able to adapt to the scrubland that arises after the clearing of tropical rainforest. It can be found from sea-level to 1,850 m (6,070 ft)
- Migration
- Resident species
Behavior
Migration pattern: Resident species.
Conservation
Population trend: stable.
- Population trend
- stable
Photos
Distribution
Bird Calls
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