The Story
I photographed this Speckled Chachalaca (Ortalis guttata) at the Posada Turística Dantayaco, near Mocoa, Putumayo, Colombia, in October 2019. The Amazonian subspecies are generally common and seem to tolerate people fairly well. It mostly forages in small flocks of up to seven birds, in the subcanopy and understory. Its song is a rapid, rhythmic five-note phrase, ha-ga-GAA-gogok. Its throat and breast are dark brown with the white speckles that give it its name, and its eye sits in bare slate-blue skin. IUCN lists it as Least Concern.
I used a Pentax K-1 with the HD Pentax-D FA 150-450mm f/4.5-5.6 for this one, at 1/100 sec, f/5.6, ISO 3200, +1 EV. Mocoa, the capital of Putumayo, was founded on September 29, 1563, by Captain Gonzalo H. de Avendaño.
©2020 Adam Rainoff Photographer
The bird
The Speckled Chachalaca (Ortalis guttata) belongs to the family Cracidae (Guans, Chachalacas, and Curassows) in the eBird/Clements taxonomy.
Source: eBird.org (opens in a new tab)
Conservation
Least Concern on the IUCN Red List (assessment published 2019). Source: IUCN Red List