Chestnut-headed Chachalaca
Ortalis ruficeps
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.
Identification
The chestnut-headed chachalaca is 43 to 54 cm (1.4 to 1.8 ft) long and weighs 345 to 620 g (0.76 to 1.4 lb). It has a reddish-chestnut head, grayish brown upperparts, grayish underparts, and dark brown primary flight feathers.
Taxonomy
What is now the chestnut-headed chachalaca was previously a subspecies of what was then called variable chachalaca (Ortalis motmot). (Confusingly, after the split the International Ornithological Committee (IOC) renamed O. motmot "little chachalaca" but the American Ornithological Society (AOS) and the Clements taxonomy retained the name "variable" for it.) It is monotypic.
- Scientific name
- Ortalis ruficeps
- Authority
- (Wagler, 1830)
- Order
- Galliformes
- Family
- Cracidae
- Genus
- Ortalis
Range and habitat
The chestnut-headed chachalaca is found only in north-central Brazil, south of the Amazon River between rio Tapajós in Pará state and rio Araguaia in Tocantins state. Though its habitat has not been well studied, it is believed to be similar to that of the little chachalaca: landscapes such as dense secondary forest and the undergrowth along rivers, in clearings, and abandoned pastures. It probably shuns the interior of dense forest.
Behavior
The chestnut-headed chachalaca's feeding behavior and diet are assumed to be the same as those of little chachalaca. That species forages in trees or on the ground, usually in pairs or small flocks. Its primary diet is berries and fruits although it also eats flowers and leaves.<p>No information has been published about the chestnut-headed chachalaca's breeding phenology.<p>The chestnut-headed chachalaca's song is "a loud, rollicking duet, a repeated 'WATCH-a-lak', which is mainly given at dawn and dusk" and is very similar to that of the little chachalaca though slower.
Photos
Bird Calls
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Blond-crested Woodpecker
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Fairly large and strikingly-plumaged woodpecker with a yellow-crested head contrasting with a largely black body which is variably scaled with yellow spots depending on the subspecies, and a yellow rump. Males have a red moustache. Found in both wet and dry forests, usually avoiding the interior, and in wooded savannas.
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Brightly colored barbet of montane forest. Males are green with a yellow breast, a red belly band, and a red head; the color of the whisker can be blue or yellow depending on the subspecies. Females have a blue face and a greener body. Both sexes have a pale greenish-yellow bill. Often found singly or in pairs with mixed-species flocks, foraging in the mid-story and canopy of humid forest. Listen for a musical purr with a punctuated introductory note: “PA-prrrrr.”
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