Habitat
Subtropical and tropical lowland dry and moist shrubland. Also, subtropical and tropical lowland moist forest, mangroves, heavily degraded former forest. From sea-level - 1,850 m.
Food
Fruit, seeds, leaves, and flowers. Sometimes crops such as tomatoes and cucumbers.
Voice
A raucous 'raw-pa-haw' or 'cha-cha-law-ka', often uttered by several birds in chorus, especially at dawn and dusk. Also peeping whistles and cackles.
Subspecies
West Mexican Chachalaca (Ortalis poliocephala) and White-bellied Chachalaca (Ortalis leucogastra) formerly considered subspecies of present species. Population of dry interior valley of Chiapas, southern Mexico, was separated in subspecies vallicola, but differences slight and not usually recognized. Isolated population in Costa Rica may represent undescribed subspecies; sometimes assigned to White-bellied Chachalaca (Ortalis leucogastra). In Chiapas, range meets, and may slightly overlap with those of West Mexican Chachalaca (Ortalis poliocephala) and White-bellied Chachalaca (Ortalis leucogastra) but hybridization not recorded.
Formerly, White-bellied Chachalaca (Ortalis leucogastra) was considered a subspecies but is now recognised as a full species.
The following 4 subspecies are recognised:
vetula (Wagler, 1830) - Eastern and southern Mexico, Belize, eastern Guatemala, Honduras, western Nicaragua and north-western Costa Rica.
deschauenseei Bond, J, 1936 - Utila I, off northern Honduras.
mccallii Baird, SF, 1858 - Extreme southern Texas (USA) and north-eastern Mexico south to northern Veracruz.