Tinamous | Tinamidae

Tinamoes | Tinamúes | Tinamous

Thirty-five species in eight genera occur in the area of this guide: Tinamus and Crypturellus in humid and dry lowland forest of the Amazonian foothills, the Chocó and the west coast, Eudromia in dry forest of the Chaco region, Nothocercus in Andean cloud forest, and Nothoprocta, Nothura, Rhynchotus and Tinamotis in scrub, grassland and puna high in the mountains. Tinamous look like a cross between a partridge and a rail: a rounded body, a thin neck, a small head with a slender, slightly curved bill and a very short tail hidden beneath the body feathers. The plumage is brown, grey or rufous, often finely barred or streaked, and the sexes are alike. They walk quietly over the forest floor or through grass picking up fruit, seeds and invertebrates; when threatened they crouch or run off, and only at the last moment burst into flight on loudly whirring wings. Their voice consists of pure, tremulous or descending whistles, heard mainly at dusk and among the characteristic sounds of the rainforest. The male incubates the eggs on bare ground among roots, leaf litter or grass tussocks and alone cares for the young, which can walk almost at once. The eggs are unmarked and glossy as porcelain, turquoise in the Great Tinamou and purplish or chocolate brown in other species.