Grey-headed chachalaca
species of bird
The grey-headed chachalaca (Ortalis cinereiceps) is a member of an ancient group of birds in the family Cracidae, which includes chachalacas, guans, and curassows. It is found from Honduras to Colombia.
Taxonomy and systematics
The family Cracidae is closely related to the guineafowl (Numididae), the pheasants, grouse and allies (Phasianidae), and the New World quail (Odontophoridae). The grey-headed chachalaca was at one time treated as conspecific with the chestnut-winged chachalaca (Ortalis garrula). It is monotypic; several subspecies have been proposed and not accepted.
Description
The grey-headed chachalaca is a medium-sized bird, similar in general appearance to turkeys, with a small head, long strong legs, and a long broad tail. They are 48 to 58 cm (1.6 to 1.9 ft) long and weigh 490 to 540 g (1.1 to 1.2 lb). They have fairly dull plumage, grayish brown above and paler below. The head is dark grey with a red dewlap and the blackish tail is tipped with buff. Their primary flight feathers are bright chestnut.
“Grey-headed chachalaca” enters the record as species of bird. Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what Grey-headed, chachalaca and species can confirm, complicate or overturn.
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“Grey-headed chachalaca” is worth following because a concise public description often conceals a longer documentary argument. Here, Grey-headed, chachalaca and species provides the most credible route into that argument.
The date and method of observation matter as much as the stated conclusion, especially where classification or consensus has changed. The source revision retrieved here is dated Jan 6, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q1267644. None of the 0 selected statements returned an explicit reference.
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This entry incorporates text from “Grey-headed chachalaca” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.