Gray-headed Chachalaca

How to find it

Listen first, then look. Groups call loudly from the vegetation in early morning or late afternoon. Scan small flocks at middle levels along forest edge or in second growth. A garden with trees near Turrialba Volcano often hosts them, and they readily visit bird tables for food. Do not overlook disturbed habitat: one birder found a dozen along a stream in dense second growth. At Carara National Park it is rare, and is mostly found in the more humid forest on the hills above the park, reached along the road to Bijagual.

How to recognise it

Look for a large, chicken-like bird with a long neck and a long tail.

Overall it is brown, with a grayer head and rufous (reddish brown) flight feathers in the wing. Across its range it measures about 48 to 58 cm. The head is dark gray with a red dewlap, the small bare red flap on the throat. The blackish tail has a buff tip. Birds seen well show a streaky chest. Juveniles are browner, especially on the head.

In Costa Rica the bird is about 51 cm long and about 500 g. One tour group had scope views of a chachalaca sitting quietly at eye level beside a driveway, and could pick out the streaky chest and the red flap.

What it sounds like

Recording: Dan MacNeal, CC BY 4.0, source, read 4 Nov 2026.

Behaviour and diet

Chachalacas go about in groups. Across the species' range they forage in groups of 6 to 12, sometimes up to 20, mostly in vegetation and sometimes on the ground. In Costa Rica, where one is found, others are nearby, in groups of up to 12. They move clumsily through the trees at middle levels.

When a flying predator appears, the flock retreats in a panic with bugling calls. On one tour this helped the group find a Bicolored Hawk. In Costa Rica they breed from February to June, building a wide, shallow platform of sticks and vines 1 to 2.5 m up, usually holding 3 whitish eggs.

Where it lives

In Costa Rica it is resident in the lowlands and foothills of the Caribbean slope, reaching about 1100 m in some places. On the Pacific side it ranges from the west Central Valley and the Gulf of Nicoya mouth south to Panama.

It likes scrubby growth with few scattered tall trees, forest edges, and areas along rivers, streams and roads. Across its range it uses thickets, secondary forest, brushy old fields and thinned forest, and it avoids the interior of dense forest but can be at the edges. It is often found outside protected areas.

When to see it

It is a year-round resident in Costa Rica, so there is no off season for finding it. Breeding runs from February to June.

Similar birds

Costa Rica has one other chachalaca, the Plain Chachalaca, limited to dry Guanacaste in the northwest. It is larger, at about 56 cm and 650 g, and more rufous below, with a white tail tip and no rufous in the wings. The Gray-headed has darker rufous primaries (outer wing feathers) and a whiter belly. The isolated Plain population overlaps with the Gray-headed in northern Costa Rica.

Names and lore in Costa Rica

Costa Rican common names include chachalaca, pavita, chachalaca cabecigris and pajuila. The word chachalaca may come from a Nahuatl word for a tattler or gossiper, and in Spanish-speaking Central and South America a very talkative person is sometimes called a chachalaca.

Status and conservation

It is a resident (R) on the AOCR list, and across its range the IUCN rates it Least Concern, fairly common to common, though hunting has cut numbers in some areas.

Photography tips

Listen first, then look. Groups call loudly in early morning or late afternoon, so let the sound lead you. Check forest edge or second growth, where small flocks move through the trees at middle levels. Feeders and bird tables give the easiest, closest views.