CAN YOU HEAR THE CHACHALACAS? LUCKY YOU!

By Juan Montoya

If you're lucky enough to live by a wooded area then you'll probably have heard the call of the chachalacas in the early morning hours and toward dusk.
The name of this tropical-forest bird comes from its distinctive cry cha-cha-lac, a sound many South Texas natives have grown to know. The female's cry is somewhat higher pitched. And the sound of a flock in full chorus is not to be forgotten.
In fact, there is only one species in North America and we have it here.
The birds -- with short rounded wings and long tails are generally secretive, albeit highly vocal. Generally, they are gray to brownish olive above with a small head, slight crest and a long, lustrous, dark-green tail tipped with white.
Jose Cuellar, who lives toward the Rio Grande in the city's southeast side, said the birds used to be seen in flocks scurrying along the underbrush. About the only time he knew they were then was when they would join in chorus toward dusk.
"There used to be a lot more of them before," he said. "But even then, you would hardly see them out in the open."
As the outlying areas around the resacas started getting cleared for housing developments, the chachalacas and other wildlife started moving away from the city. However, the new consciousness about protecting the environment and its potential as an economic boom in ecotourism has moved local leaders to set aside areas and limit their development.
"Believe it or not, I believe some of the wildlife is returning," said Maria Maldonado, who lives along Browne Road toward Boca Chica. "I had never heard such a racket in a long time when I heard the chachalacas just the other day."
Although basically a plain bird, the male does sport a bare patch of skin on its throat which turns pinkish red during breeding time. And some tail feathers are distinctive with their splash of white as they fly from low branches of trees.
Traditionally, the birds have inhabited the tall chaparral thickets along the Rio Grande. It feeds in trees, chiefly on leaves and buds. But like the state bird, the mockingbird, it has a passion for the red-hot piquin peppers that dot the South Texas landscape and are cultivated in many local homes for use as a spice.
"I thought I heard something heavy on my roof and though it was a possum trying to get to the trees," said Edward Sanchez, who lives near the Las Prietas are on the city's west side. "But I looked out the window and three chachalacas scampered toward the piquin bushes and started feasting on the red peppers."
Sanchez said that the bushes, usually the domain of the chicos, were left alone when the big birds arrived. The mockingbirds watched from a high branch as the chachalacas ate furtively before flapping toward the branches of a low tree next door.
The Valley chachalacas, called O. Vetula Macallis by biologists, is but one of the many species of its genus. Its relatives spread into Mexico and Central America, live by waterways and are considered good game birds.