GrrlScientist is an evolutionary biologist, ornithologist, aviculturist, birder and freelance science and nature writer. A native of the Pacific Northwest, she relocated from Seattle to NYC with her parrots after earning a BS in Microbiology (emphasis in Virology) and PhD in Zoology (Ornithology) from the University of Washington. In NYC, she was the Chapman Postdoctoral Fellow at the American Museum of Natural History for two years, pursuing part of her "dream" research project by reconstructing a molecular phylogeny of the parrots of the South Pacific islands. GrrlScientist and her five parrots are currently relocating to Germany, where she will continue writing her blog while also writing a book and learning German. (Meanwhile, her parrots will continue to nibble on her extensive personal library.) If you appreciate GrrlScientist's writing, you can help pay her living expenses by hiring her to "blog" your conference, speak at your club or write articles for your publication (or by clicking on the Paypal button below). If you read an essay on this blog that you especially enjoyed, please nominate it for inclusion in 
tags: Penelope Guan, Penelope species, birds, mystery bird, bird ID quiz
[Mystery bird] Unidentified Penelope Guan, Penelope species, photographed in South America [I will identify this bird for you tomorrow]
Image: Indonesian Parrot Project [larger view].
Please name at least one field mark that supports your identification.
Rick Wright, Managing Director of WINGS Birding Tours Worldwide, writes:
The cracids -- chachalacas, guans, and curassows -- are a large family of spectacular gallinaceous birds found in tropical America; large and meaty, they are often under intense hunting pressure, and as denizens of extensive forest, this family accounts for far too many badly endangered species.
The various Penelope guans -- medium-large, with blackish plumage coarsely streaked white, red gular sacs, bluish facial skin, and a more or less conspicuous crest -- are widespread in Central and South America; the most familiar is Crested Guan, probably the most common of the surviving larger cracids. Identification of Penelope guans is difficult, and the most important clue is often range. Knowing only that this bird was photographed in "South America," I would not presume to identify it beyond the genus level, but I am sure there are those out there who know this group well enough to distinguish the species without recourse to range.
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I'm going to guess that that's a Crested Guan (though it doesn't seem to have much of a crest). That's based on a few minutes' googling for images.
Posted by: John Callender | November 25, 2008 10:50 AM
I'm getting the strong feeling that your comments are somehow being "spammed"--a feeling only reinforced by that last contributor's name.
A note: in one of the field guides (no time to rummage around and figure out which), the first comment offered on Crested Guan is that it is "no more crested than other guans." How's that for helpful?
Posted by: Rick Wright | November 25, 2008 2:27 PM
Rick - that seems to have been going on for some time. It be a few hours before Grrl gets to see this - she doesn't have a good connection at the moment.
I do wonder though - do crested guan produce crested guano?
Posted by: Bob O'H | November 25, 2008 3:27 PM
unfortunately, i was being spammed. i think i've fixed this.
Posted by: "GrrlScientist" | November 26, 2008 3:08 PM
Is it a chachalaca? I've only ever seen them from below, but the wattle was pretty disinctive
Posted by: Lars | November 26, 2008 8:07 PM
Somehow my turkey guess disappeared? Well it was wrong anyways.
Posted by: Danimal | December 2, 2008 7:15 AM