Tinamú alirrojo

Taxonomía

All tinamou are from the family Tinamidae, and in the larger scheme are also ratites. Unlike other ratites, tinamous can fly, although in general, they are not strong fliers. All ratites evolved from prehistoric flying birds, and tinamous are the closest living relative of these birds.<p>Coenraad Jacob Temminck first identified the red-winged tinamou from a specimen from São Paulo state, Brazil, in 1815.<p>The red-winged tinamou has three subspecies:<p>Previously, the taxon maculicollis was considered a subspecies of the red-winged tinamou, but following SACC it is now considered a species in its own right; the huayco tinamou.

Nombre científico

Rhynchotus rufescens

Autoridad

(Temminck, 1815)

Orden

Tinamiformes

Familia

Tinamidae

Género

Rhynchotus

Distribución y hábitat

Its range is southeastern, northeastern and central Brazil, eastern Paraguay, southeastern Peru, Bolivia and eastern Argentina<p>At lower elevations (1,000 m (3,300 ft)), it favours marshy grasslands (seasonally flooded) and forest edges. While, at higher elevations, up to 2,500 m (8,200 ft), it will frequent arid shrubland, pastures, and grain fields. Overall it prefers dry savanna.

Migración

Resident species

Comportamiento

The red-winged tinamou have vocal males that are a longs ringing single whistle followed by shorter sad whistles. The female does not call. This species is most active during the hottest parts of the day.<p>Its diet varies by season; it taking insects and other small animals (even small mammals) in the summer, and switching to vegetable matter, such as fruits, shoots, tubers and bulbs, in the winter. It can be an agricultural pest, feeding on cereals, rice and peanuts, as well as being predatory, taking poisonous snakes and even jumping up into the air to snatch an insect off a leaf.<p>The male of the species attracts the female by follow feeding and after the attraction will move to the nest where she lays her eggs that he will incubate only and then raise the chicks.

Conservación

Like all tinamous, the red-winged tinamou is a popular target for hunters, and in areas of high human population density number have declined, but the species has also increased in some areas where forest clearance has created favourable habitat. Overall, it is not considered threatened and is therefore listed as Least Concern by IUCN. It has an occurrence range of 5,700,000 km2 (2,200,000 sq mi).

Tendencia poblacional

declining