Chachalaka

The locals have often spoken of a bird about the size of a chicken and in fact I know that Hormelis has hunted them, unsuccessfully I might add, with our pellet gun.  We have never seen one until the other day Harry noticed a bird eating at the bananas.  He took a picture of it and to my surprise it had no feathers on the neck/head, nor the legs.  I took it to be a juvenile but had no idea what species.  Well, the next day Ron comes in and tells me to get the camera, there is a bird out in the bushes behind the house that we have never seen before.

These are the pictures I took.  There were 3 of them altogether and they were quite large, kind of like a small chicken size.  Obviously the parents of this little banana thief.  I researched them and they are called Chachalakas.  The next day Harry saw a flock of about 10 of them eating nuts in the tall trees across the road. This is another new one for us.