Northern Screamer
Chauna chavaria
Huge, ungainly bird with thick red legs, red face, and a wispy crest. Body mostly gray with black neck and whitish cheeks. In flight shows white underwings. Sexes similar. Uncommon and sedentary in wetlands with some trees, often alone or in pairs, perching top of trees or next to the water. Eats aquatic plants. Unmistakable in range.
Identification
The northern screamer is 76 to 91 cm (30 to 36 in) long. They are stout bodied with a disproportionately small head and a gray bill. The sexes have the same plumage. Adults have a gray crown with a long crest, a mostly white face, a wide black band around the neck, and a dark gray body, wings, and tail. Their wing has two sharp spurs at its manus. They have bare red skin around their brown eye and reddish orange legs and feet. Juveniles are similar to adults but drabber.
Taxonomy
The northern screamer shares genus Chauna with the southern screamer (C. torquata). One other species, the horned screamer (Anhima cornuta) is also in family Anhimidae. The northern screamer is monotypic.
- Scientific name
- Chauna chavaria
- Authority
- (Linnaeus, 1766)
- Order
- Anseriformes
- Family
- Anhimidae
- Genus
- Chauna
Range and habitat
The northern screamer is found across northern Colombia from the Atrato River and Magdalena River valleys east into the Lake Maracaibo area of Venezuela. It inhabits a variety of wet landscapes including swamps, marshes, lagoons, riverbanks, and seasonally flooded river plains.
- Migration
- Resident species
Behavior
Migration pattern: Resident species.
Conservation
Population trend: stable.
- Population trend
- stable
Photos
Distribution
Bird Calls
Other Birds
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