Birds of the World


East Brazilian Chachalaca (Ortalis araucuan) Range: SA: e Brazil Parque da Cidade Dom Nivaldo Monte, Natal, Brazil
Photograph by Rodrigo Conte © All Rights Reserved.


Chaco Chachalaca (Ortalis canicollis pantanalensis) Range: SA: c Pousada Rio Claro, Pantanal, Brazil
Photograph by Tom Friedel © All Rights Reserved.


Grey-headed Chachalaca (Ortalis cinereiceps) Range: MA, SA: Honduras to n Colombia Valle de Anton, Panama
Photograph by Tom Friedel © All Rights Reserved.


Colombian Chachalaca (Ortalis columbiana) Range: SA: nc Colombia Huila, Colombia
Photograph by Tom Friedel © All Rights Reserved.

Most closely related to the Speckled Chachalaca which also has a scaled chest. Chachalacas further north (Grey-headed Chachalaca, Plain Chachalaca, Rufous-vented Chachalaca, Chestnut-winged Chachalaca) are not scaled. The species is found only in Magdalena and Cauca valley at most altitudes, and does not overlap with the Speckled Chachalaca (and also has no speckles).


Rufous-headed Chachalaca (Ortalis erythroptera) Vulnerable Range: SA: w Ecuador and nw Peru Buenaventura, El Oro, Ecuador
Photograph by Tropical Birding (Nick Athanas) © All Rights Reserved.


Chestnut-winged Chachalaca (Ortalis garrula) Range: SA: nw Colombia Colombia
Photograph by Manakin Nature Tours - Luis Urueña © All Rights Reserved.

Very similar to Grey-headed Chachalaca, but entire head is chestnut.
Distinctive chestnut head closeup.


Speckled Chachalaca (Ortalis guttata guttata) Range: SA: Amazonia Villa Carmen, Pilcopata, Peru
Photograph by Tom Friedel © All Rights Reserved.


White-bellied Chachalaca (Ortalis leucogastra) Range: MA: s Mexico to Nicaragua Ecoparque El Espino, El Salvador
Photograph by Alex Navarro © All Rights Reserved.


Little Chachalaca (Ortalis motmot) Range: SA: n Amazonia French Guiana Note red head.
Photograph by Michel GIRAUD-AUDINE © All Rights Reserved.


West Mexican Chachalaca (Ortalis poliocephala) Range: MA: w and sw Mexico Mexico
Photograph by Nigel from Vancouver Copyright and usage info This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported. In short: you are free to share the file for non-commercial purposes under the conditions that you appropriately attribute it, and that you distribute it only under a license identical to this one. If you remix, transform, or build upon the material, you may not distribute the modified material.


Rufous-vented Chachalaca (Ortalis ruficauda ruficauda) Range: SA: Colombia and Venezuela Hato Aurora, Casanare, Colombia Note lack of streaking or scales.
Photograph by Tom Friedel © All Rights Reserved.

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Chestnut-headed Chachalaca (Ortalis ruficeps) Range: SA: nc Brazil


Scaled Chachalaca (Ortalis squamata) Range: SA: se Brazil Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil
Photograph by Cláudio D. Timm Copyright and usage info This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial 3.0 Unported. In short: you are free to share and make derivative works of the file for non-commercial purposes under the conditions that you appropriately attribute it, and that you distribute it only under a license identical to this one.


Buff-browed Chachalaca (Ortalis superciliaris) Range: SA: ne Brazil Brazil
Photograph by Ciro Albano - NE Brazil Birding © All Rights Reserved.


Plain Chachalaca (Ortalis vetula mccalli) Range: NA, MA: s Texas to nw Costa Rica Frontera Audubon Center, Weslaco, Texas, United States
Photograph by dfaulder Copyright and usage info This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution ShareAlike 3.0 License. In short: you are free to share and make derivative works of the file under the conditions that you appropriately attribute it, and that you distribute it only under a license identical to this one.


Rufous-bellied Chachalaca (Ortalis wagleri) Range: MA: nw and w Mexico La Bajada, Nayarit, Mexico Much browner and redder than other Mexican species.
Photograph by Nigel Voaden © All Rights Reserved.