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Hooded Tinamou | Nothocercus nigrocapillus
Zwartkaptinamoe | Tinamú cabecinegro | Inhambu-encapuzado
The Hooded Tinamou is a medium-sized highland tinamou of cloud forest on the eastern slope of the Andes in Peru and Bolivia. The dark grey head contrasts with the brown body. It occurs only in the guide area.
Voice
A repeated, nasal whistle, mainly at dawn and dusk. A loud whirr of wings when flushed.
Recording: Jacob Wijpkema — CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 · xeno-canto
Identification
32–34 cm, with a short, stout bill and almost no tail. The head and neck are dark slate grey, and the throat paler grey. The upperparts are brown to olive-brown and finely barred black, with small pale spots on the wings. The underparts are rufous to tawny, finely barred dark on the flanks. The sexes are alike.
Confusion species
Tawny-breasted Tinamou Nothocercus julius has a rufous head and a white throat and lives further north. Highland Tinamou Nothocercus bonapartei has a rufous throat and a blackish crown, and in Peru occurs only in the north. Brown Tinamou Crypturellus obsoletus is smaller and plainer brown, with a less dark head. Grey Tinamou Tinamus tao is larger and grey, and lives lower.
Habitat
The floor of humid montane and cloud forest of the Yungas, often with bamboo, roughly between 1500 and 3200 m. It feeds on the ground on fruit, seeds and invertebrates. The nest is on the ground.
Where the bird is most at home, classified by the vegetation units of the Andes and the west coast.
Range and movements
In Peru on the eastern slope of the Andes, from north to south. In Bolivia on the eastern slope in La Paz and Cochabamba. Absent from Colombia, Ecuador and the Galápagos. Does not occur outside the guide area.
- Resident
- dark = core range, pale = thinly spread
How and when to look
Listen at dawn along forest trails and mountain roads through Yungas cloud forest in southern Peru and Bolivia. Early in the morning birds sometimes walk across the road.
Conservation status
Least Concern. Deforestation of mountain slopes and local hunting are threats.
Scientific name
Nothocercus nigrocapillus | (Gray, 1867)
Gray described the species in 1867 as Tinamus nigrocapillus; because it was later moved to another genus, the author and year stand in brackets. The genus Nothocercus was introduced in 1856 by Bonaparte. The genus name comes from Greek nothos, 'spurious', and kerkos, 'tail'; the tail is very short. Latin niger, 'black', and capillus, 'hair of the head': 'black-capped'. The specimen the first description was based on came from central Bolivia.