Speckled chachalaca
The speckled chachalaca is a medium-sized bird belonging to the family Cracidae.
This species is found across the Amazonian regions of Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, and Peru. The two Amazonian subspecies are generally common and inhabit low or open forest, thickets, and riparian areas. A third, isolated subspecies is found in a small area of southeastern Brazil.
Taxonomy and systematics
The taxonomic history of the speckled chachalaca is complex. It was at one time considered conspecific with what was then called the variable chachalaca and buff-browed chachalaca. They were split and the variable chachalaca has since been split further. then renamed O. motmot little chachalaca but the American Ornithological Society Later still, three more species were split from speckled chachalaca, the East Brazilian, scaled, and Colombian chachalacas.The speckled chachalaca as now understood has three subspecies, the nominate O. g. guttata, O. g. subaffinis, and O. g. remota. However, some authors treat the last as a subspecies of scaled chachalaca and others suggest it deserves to be an entirely separate species.
Description
The speckled chachalaca is long. The nominate subspecies is mostly brown above with a darker and grayer head and neck. The mantle has a chestnut wash; the tail has a bronze gloss and the outer feathers are rufous. The throat and breast are dark brown with the eponymous white speckles. The lower breast and belly are light grayish brown and the vent bright rufous. The eye is dark brown to dark reddish brown and is surrounded by bare slate blue skin.O. g. subaffinis is lighter but browner overall than the nominate, does not have the chestnut wash on the mantle, and the marks on the throat and breast are more scalloped than speckled. It is also somewhat larger. O. g. remotas description is from a single specimen. It differs from the nominate: Its crown is rufescent rather than gray, it is paler and more olive above, the rump is chestnut, and the "speckles" are larger and less well defined.
Distribution and habitat
The nominate subspecies of speckled chachalaca is found in the Amazonia of eastern Colombia, Ecuador, and Peru; northern Bolivia; and western Brazil. O. g. subaffinis is found in the Amazonia of eastern and northeastern Bolivia and adjoining southwestern Brazil. O. g. remota is, as its specific epithet implies, remote from the other two subspecies; it is found in southeastern Brazil's Mato Grosso do Sul and São Paulo states.The speckled chachalaca inhabits a variety of tropical and subtropical landscapes. The two Amazonian subspecies is typically found in low or open forest, thickets, "forest islands" in savanna, várzea, and riparian and floodplain forest. They shun the interior of terra firme forest. They reach their highest elevations at the western edge of their range, usually up to in Bolivia, in Ecuador, and in Peru though locally higher in all three countries. O. g. remota is found only in secondary woodland and the edges of gallery forest in its small zone.