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White-bellied Nothura | Nothura boraquira
Witbuiksteisshoen | Tinamú ventriblanco | Codorna-do-nordeste
The White-bellied Nothura is a small, streaked tinamou of dry, open country in the interior of South America, from north-eastern Brazil to eastern Bolivia. Its white belly separates it from the other nothuras in the guide area. It lives hidden in grass and flushes only when almost stepped on.
Voice
A series of short, high whistles, mainly heard in the early morning and evening. When flushed a sharp call and a whirr of wings.
Recording: JAYRSON ARAUJO DE OLIVEIRA — CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 · xeno-canto
Identification
25–29 cm, with a small head, a short, slightly decurved bill and almost no tail. The crown is black with pale streaks, with a pale supercilium. The throat is white. The neck and breast are buff with dark streaks and spots; the belly is white. The upperparts are brown, spotted with black and with pale longitudinal streaks on the back and wings. The primaries are barred. The legs are yellowish. The sexes are alike.
Confusion species
Spotted Nothura Nothura maculosa, which occurs in southern Bolivia, is similar but has a buff belly. Darwin's Nothura Nothura darwinii lives in the highlands and is also buff below. Red-winged Tinamou Rhynchotus rufescens is much larger, with rufous primaries. Small-billed Tinamou Crypturellus parvirostris is smaller, unstreaked, with a red bill and red legs.
Habitat
Dry grassland, cerrado, open dry woodland and scrub and their edges, and pasture with scattered shrubs, in the lowlands. It walks on the ground, feeding on seeds, shoots and insects. The nest is on the ground, hidden in a grass tussock; the male incubates.
Where the bird is most at home, classified by the vegetation units of the Andes and the west coast.
Range and movements
In Bolivia in the eastern lowlands, mainly in the department of Santa Cruz, in the Chiquitania and the adjacent savannas and dry forests. Absent from Colombia, Ecuador, Peru and the Galápagos. Outside the guide area in north-eastern and central Brazil and north-eastern Paraguay.
- Resident
- dark = core range, pale = thinly spread
How and when to look
Walk slowly through dry grassland and open cerrado in the Chiquitania; birds sit tight in the grass for a long time and flush only right at your feet. In the early morning, listen for the whistles.
Conservation status
Least Concern. The species tolerates grazed land and small-scale farming, but is hunted and loses habitat where savanna and dry forest are converted to cropland.
Scientific name
Nothura boraquira | (Spix, 1825)
Spix described the species in 1825 as Tinamus boraquira; because it was later moved to another genus, the author and year stand in brackets. The genus Nothura was introduced in 1827 by Wagler. The genus name comes from Greek nothos, 'spurious', and oura, 'tail'; the tail is barely visible. The species name goes back to the Brazilian local name codorna buraqueira, 'hole-digger quail', now used for the Lesser Nothura (Nothura minor). The specimen the first description was based on came from Minas Gerais, Brazil.