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
Scarlet-thighed Dacnis
Dacnis venusta
Small and striking tanager with very sharp bill. Male superficially similar to Blue Dacnis but most of body black; head, back, and shoulder electric turquoise-blue. Red eye. Scarlet “thighs” inconspicuous and difficult to see in the field. Female less obvious than male; note turquoise face contrasting with buffy belly. Usually stays in the canopy of forest edges; pairs often follow mixed feeding flocks.
Gray Apalis
Apalis cinerea
Plain apalis with gray upperparts and pale underparts. The color of the underparts varies geographically, from white to more dingy gray or buff. Found in middle and high-elevation forest, most often in the canopy. Usually in pairs or small groups which will join mixed-species flocks. The main vocalization is a rough, repeated “chree,” which can be accompanied by a rattling call. Very similar to Kungwe Apalis, but separated by the darker head which shows brown tones. Also similar to male Buff-throated Apalis, but has paler upperparts.
Flavescent Warbler
Myiothlypis flaveola
Yellowish warbler found in deciduous dry forests and gallery forests where it forages hyperactively on the ground. Olive-green above and yellow below with orange legs. Note the conspicuous yellow eyebrow. The song is loud and melodious “titzi teetee teetee chiiw chiiw chiiw."
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