the big chicken

The Black Guan, or Chamaepetes unicolor, is endemic to the highland regions of Costa Rica and western Panama. Like their relatives, the Chachalacas, Guans are large and clumsy, crashing through the canopy with a characteristic lack of grace. I got great views of them while in the Monteverde area, at Santa Elena Reserve, as well as once or twice in Parque Nacional Chirripo. This one here was in Santa Elena, providing me with the best view I ever got. It sat in the trees a few feet above me, noisily chomping on leaves and posing very nicely. Unremarkable to most for their lack of flashy colors, the guides in the park described the species to visitors as "the big black chicken." Black Guans teeter on the edge of stability, listed as "near-threatened" by the IUCN, though they do quite well in Monteverde and can be seen regularly in the parks there.