Chestnut-winged Chachalaca

About the Chestnut-winged Chachalaca

The chestnut-winged chachalaca (Ortalis garrula) is a species of bird in the family Cracidae, the chachalacas, guans, and curassows. It is endemic to Colombia. The chestnut-winged chachalaca was at one time treated as conspecific with the grey-headed chachalaca (Ortalis cinereiceps). It is monotypic.

The chestnut-winged chachalaca is 53 to 60 cm (1.7 to 2.0 ft) long. One male weighed 755 g (1.7 lb) and a female 630 g (1.4 lb). Both sexes have brown upperparts that are lighter on the crown and nape; the tail is dark gray-brown with a white tip. The throat and upper breast are also brown with a sharp demarcation between it and the white lower breast, flanks, and belly. The primary flight feathers are bright chestnut. The eye is surrounded by bare reddish to black skin.

The chestnut-winged chachalaca is found in northern Colombia in an area roughly bounded on the west by the Sinú River, in the east by the foothills of the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta, and in the south by the lower Cauca and Magdalena River valleys. It inhabits a variety of landscapes characterized by thick vegetation such as scrubby deciduous... Wikipedia →