The Chaco chachalaca is a species of bird in the family Cracidae, the chachalacas, guans, and curassows. It is found in Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Paraguay, and possibly Uruguay.
Region
Gran Chaco of South America
Typical Environment
Occurs across the dry to semi-arid Gran Chaco of Paraguay, Bolivia, northern Argentina, and adjacent western Brazil. It favors thorny scrub, dry quebracho and palm-dotted woodlands, gallery forests, and forest edges. The species also uses secondary growth, ranchlands, and agricultural mosaics with scattered trees. It roosts and forages in trees but readily comes to the ground to feed. Local densities can be high where fruiting shrubs are abundant.
Altitude Range
0–1200 m
Climate Zone
Subtropical
Ease of Keeping
Beginner friendly: 2/5
A noisy, social member of the Cracidae, the Chaco chachalaca is famed for its dawn and dusk choruses that give the group its name. It is an important seed disperser in the Gran Chaco, often visiting fruiting trees and shrubby edges. The species tolerates moderate habitat disturbance and can persist in farmland mosaics, though heavy deforestation and hunting can impact local numbers.
O. c. pantanalensis
Temperament
social and wary
Flight Pattern
short rapid wingbeats with gliding between perches
Social Behavior
Usually seen in small family groups or loose flocks that move through shrubs and low trees. Nests are simple platforms placed in dense vegetation or trees; typical clutches are small. Pairs maintain contact with soft calls and engage in group choruses at key times of day.
Migratory Pattern
Resident
Song Description
Loud, raucous, repetitive chattering and clucking phrases often rendered as cha-cha-lac in antiphonal chorus. Vocal activity peaks at dawn and dusk and can be heard over long distances. Softer clucks and purrs serve for close-range contact within groups.
Plumage
Overall olive-brown to brown body with a pale grey head and neck that appear finely scaled on the throat. Long, broad tail often with a paler buffy tip and slightly glossy darker upper surface. Underparts are paler brown with subtle mottling; feathers have soft, loose texture typical of chachalacas.
Diet
Eats a wide variety of fruits, berries, seeds, buds, flowers, and tender leaves. It supplements this mainly plant-based diet with insects and other small invertebrates, especially when feeding young. Foraging often involves careful picking in foliage and opportunistic gleaning on the ground beneath fruiting shrubs and trees.
Preferred Environment
Feeds along forest edges, in thorn scrub, gallery woodlands, and in semi-open ranchlands with scattered trees. It frequently visits orchards and fruiting native shrubs in the dry season.
