Watching Chachalacas
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When we moved to the Rio Grande Valley, our yard was an expanse of uninterrupted grass. Now, 13 years later, it’s an acre+ of green thicket. Our yard list soars – one of the largest in the nation – but it’s the residents that bring constant enjoyment.
Like this dude.
When the Chachalaca couple are nesting, he’s got an important job. Watch the humans. They’re shifty. They’re unpredictable. They do weird things that make noise.
Every day, he moves from one windowsill to the next, front of the house to the back, and watches. Some birds have a vacuous look in their eye, but not the Chachalaca. His eyes are piercing, probing, considering.
It always reminds me of the famous kids book by Theo LeSieg:
“Come inside, Mr. Bird,”
said the mouse.
“I’ll show you what there is
in a People House…
3 Comments
July 18th, 2009 at 6:52 am
Chachalacas, along with their tropical brethren, the guans & curassows, have a really interesting relationship with people. So do many other large, tasty birds that often top the list of most-desired menu items–turkeys, grouse, ducks and so on.
Where these birds are hunted (huge swaths of their ranges) they tend to be very skittish and hard to approach. But where hunting ceases, many quickly become incredibly tame, though never entirely losing a certain suspicion of our motives, as you say.
While I’m not against hunting per se, one of the really cool things about having some native habitat around our houses is the chance to see some of these birds acting in a different way. It’s also why South Texas is one of the best places anywhere to see species like Plain Chachalaca and White-tipped Dove–in so much of their ranges, they are seen, if at all, as shapes disappearing into the forest.
Looking forward to some serious Chachalacawatching in November!
July 18th, 2009 at 7:19 am
Lucky you to have chachalacas! I can’t wait to come down and see them. Looking forward to the festival,
August 3rd, 2009 at 2:34 pm
I have wild turkey in my backyard and red-shouldered hawk who screech at me from atop the telephone pole or the redwood trees. I look forward to seeing all those species that reside in RGV. I hope the weather will be nice.