Southern Screamer
At first glance this bird resembles a vulture but it is actually more closely related to ducks. It is a Southern Screamer (Chauna torquata) from South America, one of three extant species of Screamer that are an evolutionary oddity as they lack the small projections found on other birds' ribs (called uncinate processes). Game birds and ducks are closely related and Screamers (Anhimidae) are an early offshoot of this ancient evolutionary family. Their feet and beaks are very gamebird-like but apparently they are closer to ducks and geese. You can also see a fearsome-looking spur sticking out from the front of each wing, that they use for fighting, and sometimes they snap off in other birds, but they grow back. Spikes on the wings is also known in the Spur-winged Goose: www.flickr.com/photos/timmelling/51017831338/in/photolist Screamers also have air-sacs beneath the skin which makes them unpleasant to eat (apparently). The generic name Chauna means spongy, referring to these air-sacs. Latham in 1785 wrote "When any part of the skin is touched by hand a crackling is felt" so I presume the air-sac skin must be rather like bubble-wrap, though I have never touched a Screamer. And the name Screamer, obviously comes from their call, which sounds rather goose-like: xeno-canto.org/494930
I took this photo at Costanera Sur wetland reserve in Buenos Aries.
Southern Screamer
At first glance this bird resembles a vulture but it is actually more closely related to ducks. It is a Southern Screamer (Chauna torquata) from South America, one of three extant species of Screamer that are an evolutionary oddity as they lack the small projections found on other birds' ribs (called uncinate processes). Game birds and ducks are closely related and Screamers (Anhimidae) are an early offshoot of this ancient evolutionary family. Their feet and beaks are very gamebird-like but apparently they are closer to ducks and geese. You can also see a fearsome-looking spur sticking out from the front of each wing, that they use for fighting, and sometimes they snap off in other birds, but they grow back. Spikes on the wings is also known in the Spur-winged Goose: www.flickr.com/photos/timmelling/51017831338/in/photolist Screamers also have air-sacs beneath the skin which makes them unpleasant to eat (apparently). The generic name Chauna means spongy, referring to these air-sacs. Latham in 1785 wrote "When any part of the skin is touched by hand a crackling is felt" so I presume the air-sac skin must be rather like bubble-wrap, though I have never touched a Screamer. And the name Screamer, obviously comes from their call, which sounds rather goose-like: xeno-canto.org/494930
I took this photo at Costanera Sur wetland reserve in Buenos Aries.