This is my first sight of this bird which now makes daily visits to my garden. It is about the size of a chicken. It is very noisy and makes a loud rasping clucking sound. The locals here know it and call it Coquecha or Cohecha which does not translate.
Any ideas? It does not appear in the illustrations in my Mexican bird book.
it looks like a guineafowl. Lee
Cool bird!!
Looks like a cross between a quail and a turkey vulture!
I would say that this is certainly a guineafowl.
Odd that I can't find it listed anywhere for Central America. Guans and Chachalaco are similar.
I suppose they were introduced and escaped into the wild.
I am surprised that they have survived, the locals eat anything that moves.
Thanks for the help.
johnpeten, to be more correct, I should have stated it was a crested guineafowl. There are people around here who raise them for eggs and the meat but they can absolutely decimate a garden if a flock get to it. A few years ago, some had escaped and would come through our yard, eating all they could from fallen birdseed to pieces of the garden plants. Thanks for posting the pics for it has been a while since I have seen any. Lee
Yep, Helmeted Guineafowl Numida meleagris. Like chickens and turkeys, commonly kept on poultry farms, this one has obviously escaped (or is on a free-range farm). The wild species is native to tropical Africa.
Resin
Oh Dear. Some of my new plantlets are mysteriously disappearing during the night. I wonder if this guy is the culprit. Whatever is doing it is being very selective. Garden peas, the climbing part of Black eyed Susan and one species of Amaranth. Yet birds don't fly after dark, perhaps he walks.
More likely early morning, before you get up - it'll be up and busy at the crack of dawn.
Resin
You could be right. I was up before dawn. At first light I heard him and went into the garden. It was too dark to take photos he was only in silhouette so I had to wait until the sun peeked over the horizon. He must have been here all night.
If the damage continues I will ask my Gardener to bring his catapult to discourage his visits.
It is wonderful living in the tropics but the problems are a little unusual. Gophers, Leaf cutting ants plus about 10 other common species, the tiniest like living in the TV/Stereo remotes or CD cases. Spiders that turn the house into Dracula's castle and Wasps that make nests in the linen closet the stereo and just about any hidy hole they can find. Now a bird that should not be here in the first place.
