Brown tinamou

Appearance

The brown tinamou is approximately 25 to 30 cm in length and it weighs about 350 to 550 g. Depending on the subspecies involved, the upperparts vary from dark sooty-brown to bright chestnut and the underparts, which usually are paler than the upperparts, vary from chestnut to light ochraceous.

The subspecies ''griseiventris'' is unique in having pale buff-grey underparts. All subspecies can be separated from the superficially similar little tinamou by the greyish throat. Females are typically larger and more rufescent than the males.

Naming

Its distribution is highly disjunct and the subspecies, which quite probably represent more than one species, are distributed as follows:

⤷  ''C. o. obsoletus'', the nominate race, occurs in the Atlantic forest in southeastern Brazil, eastern Paraguay and Misiones, Argentina.
⤷  ''C. o. griseiventris'' occurs throughout the valley of Rio Tapajós, Brazil; southwestern Pará, southeastern Amazonas, and central Mato Grosso.
⤷  ''C. o. hypochraceus'' occurs in upper Rio Madeira valley in central Rondônia, Brazil.
⤷  ''C. o. punensis'' occurs in the Yungas of central Bolivia and extreme southeastern Peru.
⤷  ''C. o. traylori'', Traylor's tinamou, occurs in the Marcapata Valley of central Cusco, southeastern Peru; sometimes treated as a separate species.
⤷  ''C. o. ochraceiventris'' occurs along the east Andean slopes in central Peru; Huanuco, Pasco, Junín, northern Ayacucho, and Cusco.
⤷  ''C. o. castaneus'' occurs east of the Andes in northern Peru, Ecuador, and Colombia; sometimes treated as a separate species.
⤷  ''C. o. knoxi'' occurs in sub-tropical northwestern Venezuela.
⤷  ''C. o. cerviniventris'' occurs in northern Venezuela.

Additionally, there are records from north Mato Grosso in Brazil, but it remains unclear which subspecies is involved. Most subspecies occur in highlands, but ''hypochraceus'', ''griseiventris'', and the southern populations of the nominate taxon occur in lowlands.

It is uncommon to rare in most of its range, but commoner in southeastern Brazil, where it is the most frequently encountered member of its genus.''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.

Status

The IUCN classifies the brown tinamou as Least Concern, with an occurrence range of 1,700,000 km2.

Behavior

As other tinamous of its genus, it is a shy, ground-dwelling species, which usually is encountered singly or in pairs. It feeds on fruits, insects, and seeds. The female lays 4-5 deep pink to dark glossy brown eggs on the ground; typically in a small depression at the base of a tree. Its song consists of loud, high-pitches whistles, but exact structure and timbre vary over its range.

Habitat

The brown tinamou is located in northern Venezuela, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, northern and southern Brazil, extreme northeastern Argentina, eastern Bolivia, and eastern Paraguay. They may also be in Uruguay.

They live in tropical and sub-tropical moist lowland and montane forests, preferring elevations between 1,300 to 2,900 m.