Great Tinamou
Tinamus major
Large, almost tailless game bird that lives on the ground in humid tropical lowlands. Hunted for food and thus has been wiped out from many areas. Rarely seen, but haunting two-parted whistled song can be heard, especially early and late in the day and even at night. Sometimes flushes explosively from close range, crashing off through the forest understory. Plumage rather plain overall, warm brown above and grayish below, with grayish (not reddish) legs.
识别特征
The great tinamou is a large species of tinamou, measuring in total length at approximately 38 to 46 cm (15 to 18 in), with a mean of 44 cm (17 in), and weighing from 700 to 1,142 g (1.543 to 2.518 lb) in males, with a mean of 960 g (2.12 lb), and from 945 to 1,249 g (2.083 to 2.754 lb) in females, with a mean of 1,097 g (2.418 lb). Despite its name and large size and shape, which may be suggestive of a large pheasant or a small turkey, it is not necessarily the largest species of tinamou, as it is rivaled or exceeded by other species in the Tinamus. It ranges from light to dark olive-green in color with a whitish throat and belly, flanks barred black, and undertail cinnamon. Crown and neck rufous, occipital crest and supercilium blackish. Its legs are blue-grey in color. All these features enable great tinamou to be well-camouflaged in the rainforest understory.<p>The great tinamou has a distinctive call, three short, tremulous but powerful piping notes which can be heard in its rainforest habitat in the early evenings.<p>The great tinamous has the highest percentage of skeletal muscle devoted to locomotion among all birds, with 56.9% of its total body weight (43.74% of its body weight is skeletal muscle devoted to flight), at the same time, its heart is the smallest of all birds, in relative comparison (0.19%).
分类信息
The great tinamou was described and illustrated in 1648 by the German naturalist Georg Marcgrave in his Historia Naturalis Brasiliae. Marcgrave used the name Macucagua. The French polymath Georges-Louis Leclerc, Comte de Buffon described and illustrated the great tinamou in 1778 in his Histoire Naturelle des Oiseaux from specimens collected in Cayenne, French Guiana. He simplified Marcgrave's name to Magoua. When in 1788 the German naturalist Johann Friedrich Gmelin revised and expanded Carl Linnaeus's Systema Naturae, he included the great tinamou and placed it with all the grouse like birds in the genus Tetrao. He coined the binomial name Tetrao major and cited the earlier authors. The great tinamou is now placed with four other species in the genus Tinamus that was introduced in 1783 by the French naturalist Johann Hermann. Hermann based his name on "Les Tinamous" used by Buffon. The word "Tinamú" in the Carib language of French Guiana was used for the tinamous.<p>All tinamous are from the family Tinamidae, and are the closest living relatives of the ratites. Unlike ratites, tinamous can fly, although in general, they are not strong fliers. All ratites evolved from prehistoric flying birds.<p>Twelve subspecies are recognised:
- 学名
- Tinamus major
- 命名信息
- (Gmelin, JF, 1789)
- 目
- Tinamiformes
- 科
- Tinamidae
- 属
- Tinamus
分布与栖息地
Great tinamou lives in subtropical and tropical forest such as rainforest, lowland evergreen forest, river-edge forest, swamp forest and cloud forest at altitudes from 300 to 1,500 m (1,000–4,900 ft). Unlike some other tinamous, the great tinamou isn't as affected by forest fragmentation. Its nest can be found at the base of a tree.
- 迁徙
- Resident species
行为
Migration pattern: Resident species.
保护状况
Population trend: declining.
- 种群趋势
- declining
照片
分布
鸟叫声
其他鸟类
Varied Solitaire
Myadestes coloratus
Medium-sized thrush with extremely limited range at the border of Panama and Colombia. Unlikely to be mistaken—gray head and underparts with black face and brown back are unique. Also note its orange bill and legs. Sexes similar. Found in cloud forest from around 900–1,500 m, where it is most likely to be seen around a fruiting tree. More often heard than seen; listen for its flutelike song with ringing notes given at different pitches.
Short-bearded Honeyeater
Melionyx nouhuysi
A long, slender honeyeater of subalpine forest and shrubland in western New Guinea. All sooty gray-black plumage with a long tail and a fairly long, curved bill, 2 white tufts emanating from the base of the bill, and a yellow-orange wattle at the back of the eye. Sometimes some white scaling on the belly. Often seen perching on top of bushes. Similar to Sooty Melidectes, but Short-bearded Melidectes is larger and has a white beard. Gives a long, dry chatter.
White-nest Swiftlet
Aerodramus fuciphagus
A small acrobatic swiftlet, often in large swirling flocks above fields, forests, and settlements. Dark brown above, washed-out gray-brown below; all but identical for the most part to many other swiftlets in range. Rump is marginally paler than Himalayan, Black-nest, and Mossy-nest swiftlets, but not white, as in House Swift. Most reliably identified while on the nest, a pale gelatinous bowl in a cave or crevice. Often nests in large colonies with other swiftlet species. Gives buzzy trills in flight.
开始您的观鸟之旅
在户外识别鸟类，并在下一次观察时随手查阅鸟类图鉴。