chachalaca

American  

[chah-chuh-lah-kuh, chah-chah-lah-kah] / ˌtʃɑ tʃəˈlɑ kə, ˌtʃɑ tʃɑˈlɑ kɑ /

noun

chachalacas plural

1. any of several slender guans of the genus Ortalis, of Central America, Mexico, and southern Texas, having loud, harsh cries.

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Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• chachalacas
  plural

Etymology

Origin of chachalaca

1850–55, < Mexican Spanish < Nahuatl: to chatter, especially of birds; compare Nahuatl chachalacametl the chachalaca

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

chachalaca chachalacas

A pheasant-like bird called the chachalaca still perches on the Mexican plumeria tree with its delicate white blossoms.

From New York Times ● May 6, 2022

The loudmouthed chachalaca birds once were natural sentries, but most had been shot by the son of a neighbor whom Rios suspects of smuggling.

From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 17, 2018

Recipes of other birds are sadly overdue: pheasant, partridge, Cornish hen, Guinea fowl, chachalaca, and quail.

From New York Times ● Jan. 20, 2017

The black-bellied whistling duck, the Swainson's warbler, the pileated woodpecker, the Caspian tern, the chachalaca and the dickcissel were all sighted, and all, says Peterson, were "old friends either by sight or sound."

From Time Magazine Archive

Bright indigo buntings flash past, and a pair of noisy, chicken-size chachalacas cross the trail in front of me.

From Southern Living ● Mar. 24, 2010

Then, within a few minutes, the chachalacas began their loud duets, answering one another in couples from first one, then another direction, until the air was ringing with hanaqua! hanaqua! hanaqua!

From Jungle Peace by Beebe, William

As night came on, the trees along the river's bank were thronged with chachalacas, which almost deafened us with their querulous screams.

From The Atlantic Monthly, Volume 05, No. 30, April, 1860 by Various