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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 OpenLab2009.
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Topic Categories: Birding • Education • Mystery Birds • Photography • Teaching • Travel
Posted on: November 4, 2009 9:59 AM, by "GrrlScientist"
tags: Plain Chachalaca, Ortalis vetula, birds, mystery bird, bird ID quiz
[Mystery bird] Plain Chachalaca, Ortalis vetula, photographed at the Frontera Audubon Sanctuary, Texas. [I will identify this bird for you in 48 hours]
Image: Joseph Kennedy, 1 April 2008 [larger view].
Nikon D200, Kowa 883 telescope with TSN-PZ camera eyepiece 1/350s f/8.0 at 1000.0mm iso400.
Please name at least one field mark that supports your identification.
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Comments
I'm calling that a plain chachalaca. I realize that in other parts of the Americas the ID would be a bit trickier, but north of the Rio Grande I think it's probably safe to make the call on the basis of its "chachalaca-ness" alone. But it does match the illustration in Sibley pretty well, including the "conspicuous red gular-stripe when displaying".
Posted by: John Callender | November 4, 2009 10:57 AM
I agree John, a Plain Chachalaca, Ortalis vetula from the family Cracidae (including Gunas and Currasows): greyish head and neck with a dull olive-brown body and wings; brown iris and black beak; orbital skin (and legs) grey; red ptach of skin on throat... initially I was a little concerned about the darkness of the breast, having seen a number with much lighter coloring but because there are no other chachalacas in range (there are at least another dozen species throughout Central and South America), there must be some variation within the species
Posted by: David | November 4, 2009 5:09 PM
According to the Integrated Taxonomic Information System (the taxonomic backbone to the Encyclopedia of Life) there are five subspecies of Ortalis vetula: deschauenseei, intermedia, mcalli, pallidiventris, and the nominate subspecies vetula.
According to the Internet Bird Collection, ranges and alternate names for each subspecies show that the nominate O.v. vetula is endemic to eastern & southern Mexico, Belize, eastern Guatemala, Honduras, western Nicaragua and northwest Costa Rica and is called the Common, Mexican, or Eastern Chachalaca- the most northern subspecies, from northern Veracruz and northeast Mexico up to southern Texas is O.v. mccalli, or the Northern Chachalaca, so I am qualifying my answer as:
Ortalis vetula mccalli, the Northern Chachalaca
Posted by: David | November 4, 2009 5:49 PM
Does that bird remind anyone else of Sam the Eagle from The Muppet Show?
Posted by: MadScientist | November 8, 2009 11:53 PM