Chachalaca sounds

What kind of bird is a chachalaca?

Chachalacas, a group of around 50 species of birds from the Ortalis genus, are present from the south of the US down through Central America and all the way into southern South America. Unlike other, ground-dwelling members of the Galliformes order such as chickens, pheasants, and peafowl, chachalacas spend their time in trees. 

What does chachalacha mean in Mexico?

The name comes from the Nahuatl word meaning ‘to chatter’, which is considered “obviously onomatopoetic of the four-noted cackle”, “cha-cha-LAW-ka”, made by the plain chachalaca.

What noise does the speckled chachalaca make?

The calls of chachalaca species in general are “raucous”, with choruses given most frequently at dawn or dusk, while “individuals tend to vocalize in duets”. Though “poorly known”, the speckled chachalaca rapidly repeats a “rhythmic five-syllable phrase rendered ha-ga-GAA-gogok”. 

Other sound recordings of birds in South America that you may like

• ‘A Morning through the Rainforest’
• ‘Birds, Cicadas and Crickets in Wacoyo Indigenous Reserve’
• ‘Capuchinbird’
• ‘Dusk by the River in the Amazon Rainforest – Jungle Sounds’
• ‘Magellanic Penguin Colony’
• ‘Night in the Amazon Rainforest’
• ‘Oropendola Magic’
• ‘Peruvian Rainforest Dawn’
• ‘Woodpecker in the Amazon Rainforest’
• ‘Yellow-Rumped Cacique Singing in the Amazonian Rainforest’