The Tinamous are a family of secretive Neotropical fowl, most of which
are restricted to tropical lowlands in South America. In all the places
I've visited in Central & South America, it is a major coup to just
get a decent glimpse of wild tinamou. Only once have I ever pointed a camera
at one, and this is the result: an Undulated Tinamou (left) foraging
at the edge of the lodge clearing at Explorer's Inn, southeastern Peru.
It is the only tinamou I've ever seen "out in the open;" all my experiences
with other species have been quick views of birds running away or crossing
a trail deep inside the dark forest interior. Undulated Tinamou is, in
fact, a very common and widespread bird in the Amazon Basin as evidenced
by its distinctive and easily learned three-note whistle that is given
throughout the day and is heard in the background of many tapes of tropical
birds. But seeing one is a challenge. With patience, a good imitator might
whistle one in to a small party of very, very quiet birders, as Van Remsen
once did for us in an extremely remote region of the Amazon Basin. Otherwise
it takes much patience, quiet, and luck.
I have generally found my tinamous when alone. Even the presence of one or two other people makes them harder to find, because a small group is invariably noisier than a lone tracker, no matter how much care is taken. They are not necessarily shy per se, but being terrestrial dwellers they run to avoid predators (flight is unusual and short) and their habitat is generally thick, dark, and dense. [I have not been to Argentina or Chile where I understand that there are species of tinamou in more open country; indeed, the vast majority of photos of wild tinamous I've seen have been of these few less difficult species.] Tinamous occur in pairs or alone, but many species are very vocal. Some have sad whistles or organ-like notes. There is a wonderful tape in the Hardy series of their vocalizations.
Although outwardly a tinamou may resemble a tail-less quail or small grouse, they are actually related to the flightless ratites (rheas, ostrich, emu, etc.) and not to any of the "chickens" (I understand they are tasty, though, and heavily hunted by local peoples; the only Great Tinamou I've seen was freshly killed by a local hunter in Peru). This puts them right up at the front of any taxonomic listing of world birds. Tinamous are among the oldest families in the New World, with fossils dating back ten million years. Their close relationship to ratites has been confirmed through multiple analyses: DNA-DNA hybridization, palate structure, calcite orientation in eggshells, ontogeny, musculature, metabolic physiology, and others (summarized in Cabot 1992). Tinamou eggs are particularly lovely, being highly glossed like porcelain and colored green, turquoise, purple, or wine red.
The species taxonomy of tinamous is not the subject of much controversy. The lists in Clements (1991) and Cabot (1992) are the same (though slightly different arrangements) but Clements later "lumped" Chaco Nothura chacoensis and Spotted N. maculosa nothuras in a supplement. Yet because tinamous are hard to see, and because South American field guides have been lacking for many areas, tinamous can be difficult to identify. I suspect that it takes some field experience to get it all right. I saw a smallish, dark, red-legged tinamou in the forest along the Javarí River of northeast Peru back in 1975 that I struggled to identify from Meyer de Schauensee (1970) then, and others since. I was just checking my notes today, and the portraits & text on the tinamous in Cabot (1992), and it still looks like the initial impression -- Cinereous Tinamou Crypturellus cinereus -- was correct. But here I am 25 years later and still a bit uncertain....
Tinamous are like that.
Photos: The photo of Undulated Tinamou Crypturellus cinereus was taken with a small flash at Explorer's Inn, Tambopata Nature Reserve, Peru, in June 1987. Photos © D. Roberson; all rights reserved.
Bibliographic note:
There is no "family book" per se of which I'm aware, but an excellent introduction to the family, with striking photos (although still mostly from Chile & Argentina!), is Cabot (1992).
Literature cited:
Cabot, J. 1992. Family Tinamidae (Tinamous) in del Hoyo, J., Elliott, A., & Sargatal, J., eds. Handbook of the Birds of the World. Vol. 1. Lynx Edicions, Barcelona.TOPClements, J. F. 1991. Birds of the World: A Check-List. 4th ed. Ibis Publishing, Vista, CA.
Meyer de Schauensee, R. 1970. A Guide to the Birds of South America. Livingston Publ., Wynnewood, PA.
Page created 15 Dec 1999