Chestnut-bellied Guan

Penelope ochrogaster

The Birds of the World website introduces the Chestnut-bellied Guan with this descriptive information:  Endemic to Brazil, and considered to be globally threatened, the Chestnut-bellied Guan is most easily encountered in the northern Pantanal, but a seemingly disjunct population is also distributed, at lower densities, through the Araguaia Valley of central Brazil, at the northern end of which it comes into contact with the closely related White-crested Guan (Penelope pileata). At least formerly, the species was also found even farther south and east, in northern Minas Gerais. This is a medium-sized guan with a pale brown head, darker brown upperparts, and chestnut-rufous underparts, which are brightest on the belly and flecked white. There is also a whitish supercilium and a red-orange throat and dewlap. It seems to prefer high-ground, semideciduous forest with many lianas but a relatively open understory. Comparatively little is known of the species’ natural history.

I saw my first Chestnut-bellied Guans on the late afternoon of August 29, 2023 at Fazenda Pouso Alegre in the Pantanal Region of Brazil.  Our tour group was sitting at a pond when I spotted and photographed a pair of these Guans as they were moving from the brush to the water.  For my blog post that includes this sighting, look here.  Below is a photo I took of these beautiful birds that day.