Brown Tinamou
Crypturellus obsoletus
A rusty-colored tinamou with a grayish head and darker brown back. The vent is barred, but can be hard to see. Frequents humid forest (including second growth forests) with a dense understory, where it is shy and hard to see. The song is a long series of loud ascending whistles; the pauses between them can be long or short.
Identification
The brown tinamou is approximately 25 to 30 cm (9.8–11.8 in) in length and it weighs about 350 to 550 g (12–19 oz). Depending on the subspecies involved, the upperparts vary from dark sooty-brown to bright chestnut and the underparts, which usually are paler than the upperparts, vary from chestnut to light ochraceous. The subspecies griseiventris is unique in having pale buff-grey underparts. All subspecies can be separated from the superficially similar little tinamou by the greyish (rather than whitish) throat. Females are typically larger and more rufescent than the males.
Taxonomy
All tinamous are usually treated in a single family (Tinamidae) and, contrary to traditional classifications, they are embedded within the group known as ratites, most closely related to the extinct moa of New Zealand. However, unlike ratites (ostriches, rheas, moa, kiwis, emus, cassowaries & elephantbirds), tinamous are capable of flight, although in general, they are not strong fliers. Different ratite lineages evolved separately from ancient flying birds, and tinamous are thought to most closely resemble these ancestral ratites.<p>Its distribution is highly disjunct and the subspecies, which quite probably represent more than one species, are distributed as follows:<p>Additionally, there are records from north Mato Grosso in Brazil, but it remains unclear which subspecies is involved. Most subspecies occur in highlands, but hypochraceus, griseiventris, and the southern populations of the nominate taxon occur in lowlands. It is uncommon to rare in most of its range, but commoner in southeastern Brazil, where it is the most frequently encountered member of its genus.
- Scientific name
- Crypturellus obsoletus
- Authority
- (Temminck, 1815)
- Order
- Tinamiformes
- Family
- Tinamidae
- Genus
- Crypturellus
Range and habitat
The brown tinamou is located in northern Venezuela, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, northern and southern Brazil, extreme northeastern Argentina, eastern Bolivia, and eastern Paraguay. They may also be in Uruguay.<p>They live in tropical and sub-tropical moist lowland and montane forests, preferring elevations between 1,300 to 2,900 m (4,300–9,500 ft).
- Migration
- Resident species
Behavior
Migration pattern: Resident species.
Conservation
Population trend: declining.
- Population trend
- declining
Photos
Distribution
Bird Calls
Other Birds
Silvery Tanager
Stilpnia viridicollis
Compact tanager of mid-elevation montane forest. Males are black with lighter blue upperparts and flanks, darker blue wings, and an orange patch that extends through the throat and cheek; females are green with a dull orange head. Often forages in pairs with mixed-species flocks, preferring forest edges. Relatively vocal for a tanager, and often noticed through its long, high-pitched buzzy song.
Adelaide's Warbler
Setophaga adelaidae
A small, brightly colored inhabitant of thickets in woodlands and scrub. Feeds actively, snatching insects from leaves and twigs. It is passingly similar to the Northern Parula, but the parula has yellow-green on its back and the yellow below does not extend onto the belly as it does on Adelaide’s. Its song is series of rapidly given sweet notes that accelerate as the song progresses before sometimes slowing again towards the end. Call is a sweet “chick” with a slight squeaky quality.
Three-banded Courser
Rhinoptilus cinctus
Elegant, cryptic, long-legged, upland shorebird. Shows a dark upperwing and a largely white underwing in flight. Found in savanna and woodland, including some miombo. Nocturnal species that spends the day roosting under a thick bush. Calls at night with a repeated metallic “chik.” Somewhat similar to Double-banded Courser but is nocturnal and has a more complex and striped head and chest pattern.
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