Chestnut-winged Chachalaca vs Scaled Chachalaca

Chestnut-winged Chachalaca

Ortalis garrula

Large532 gShrubland

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. Voice: The chestnut-winged chachalaca is vocal throughout the year (mostly at dawn) but more so during the breeding season. The most commonly heard sound is a duet rendered as "wha-cha-rá" that carries a great distance.

ID text from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0

Photo: José Gabriel Julio Guzmán · CC BY 4.0

Scaled Chachalaca

Ortalis squamata

Large548 gShrubland

The scaled chachalaca is about 50 cm (1.6 ft) long. One male weighed about 620 g (1.4 lb) and a female 498 g (1.1 lb). Its plumage is mostly shades of brown, darker on the upperside. The breast is also dark brown with pale feather edges that give a scalloped or scaly effect. The belly is buffy and the vent chestnut. It has a small pinkish throat patch. The bare skin around the dark eye is slate gray. Voice: The scaled chachalaca's song is "a raucous, very noisy but highly variable 'racket', given in duet or chorus from multiple individuals, cacataPOOP, cacataPOP, cacataWHUMP, cacataWEEcata on pitch." It also makes "an irregular but sometimes rhythmic cackling or throaty bubbling, cuhcuh-cuhCAHcuhcuhcucCAH cuhcuhcuhcuh...."

ID text from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0

Photo: Fabrício Mil Homens Riella · CC BY 4.0

Photos and recordings are credited to their authors under the licence shown. Full profiles: Chestnut-winged Chachalaca and Scaled Chachalaca.