Little tinamou


The little tinamou is a species of tinamou. It is found in Central and South America.

Etymology

Crypturellus is formed from three Latin or Greek words. kruptos meaning covered or hidden, oura meaning tail, and ellus meaning diminutive. Therefore, Crypturellus means small hidden tail.

Taxonomy

The little tinamou is one of 21 species in the genus Crypturellus, the most species-rich genus of tinamous. All tinamous are in the family Tinamidae, and in the larger scheme are also palaeognaths, a group that includes the more widely known flightless ratites such as ostriches and emus. Unlike the ratites, though, tinamous can fly, although in general they are not strong fliers. All palaeognaths evolved from flying ancestors.

Subspecies

It is a resident breeder in tropical lowland forests, rivers-edge forests, lowland evergreen forest, secondary forest, and lowland shrublands at an altitude of. They also are fairly successful utilizing cleared forests and plantations or farmed land. The little tinamou is located throughout central and southern Central America and northern South America, inclusive of the island of Trinidad.

Behavior

The little tinamou is rarely seen in its dark, dense forests, walking away through the undergrowth. It can be located by its slow whistling calls, given by both sexes. It eats seeds, berries, and some insects.

Breeding

The breeding season of the little tinamou ranges from May to October. Its nest is a small depression in forest floor, sometimes lined with a few leaves at the base of a tree or in dense brush. It usually lays two glossy dark purple coloured eggs, sometimes only one. The size of the egg is approximately. The eggs are incubated by male. The young are precocial, and can run almost as soon as they hatch.

Description

The little tinamou is approximately long and weighs. This species is a shy, secretive and solitary tinamou. Although it looks similar to other ground-dwelling birds like quail and grouse, it is completely unrelated to those groups. This is a dumpy bird recognised by its small size and lack of barring. It has an unbarred sooty-brown plumage, it is shaded to grey on the head and has a whitish throat. Its foreneck is brownish and it is cinnamon buff on its belly. The female has a brighter rufous brown on its under parts than the male. Its legs can be grey, olive, or yellow.

Conservation

The IUCN list the little tinamou as Least Concern, with an occurrence range of.

Footnotes