- Ortalis vetula
Identification
48–58 cm (19-23 in)
- Long-necked
- Small head
- Bare throat
- Greyish head and neck
- Dull olive-brown body and wings
- Pale underbelly
- Blackish tail with green gloss and buffy white tip
- Brown iris
- Black bill
- Dull grey orbital skin and feet
Similar species
Smaller than West Mexican Chachalaca. Orbital skin greyish rather than red. Underparts uniformly coloured rather than the contrasting whitish of that species.
Distribution
North and Central America
North America: Georgia, Texas
Central America: Mexico, Guatemala, Belize, El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua and Costa Rica.
Taxonomy
Subspecies
There are 4 subspecies[1]:
- O. v. mccalli:
- O. v. vetula:
- South East Mexico (southern Veracruz) to north-western Costa Rica
- O. v. pallidiventris:
- South East Mexico (northern Yucatán Peninsula)
- O. v. deschauenseei
- Utila Island (off northern Honduras)
Habitat
Thickets and scrub with tall brushy vegetation; also secondary grown in lowland areas.
Behaviour
Diet
Their diet consists of a wide variety of fruits, including blackberries. They also eat some seeds, leaves and flowers.
Breeding
The nest is a shallow saucer made of twigs and plant material, lined with leaves. The clutch consists of 2-4 whitish-cream eggs.
References
- Clements, J. F., T. S. Schulenberg, M. J. Iliff, D. Roberson, T. A. Fredericks, B. L. Sullivan, and C. L. Wood. 2015. The eBird/Clements checklist of birds of the world: v2015, with updates to August 2015. Downloaded from http://www.birds.cornell.edu/clementschecklist/download/
- Avibase
- Handbook of the Birds of the World Alive (retrieved June 2016)
Recommended Citation
- BirdForum Opus contributors. (2024) Plain Chachalaca. In: BirdForum, the forum for wild birds and birding. Retrieved 18 April 2024 from https://www.birdforum.net/opus/Plain_Chachalaca
External Links
GSearch checked for 2020 platform.1
