From Opus

Tinamus major

Photo: Gary Clark
Location: La Selva Biological Research Station near Sarapiqui, Costa Rica.

[edit] Identification

A large (46cm.) tinamou, olive-brown above spotted and barred with black, paler and greyer below, flanks barred black, belly whitish and undertail cinnamon. Crown and neck rufous, occipital crest and supercilium blackish. Legs blue-grey.

[edit] Distribution

From southern Puebla, Vera Cruz and Oaxaca in southern Mexico to Panama, and in northern South America from Colombia and Venezuela south to northern Bolivia and western Brazil. Resident.

[edit] Taxonomy

Central American Races:

• percautus: southern Mexico and Guatemala
• robustus: from central Guatemala to northern Nicaragua
• fuscipennis: from east Nicaragua to Panama
• castaneiceps: south-west Costa Rica and western Panama
• brunniventris: central Panama
• saturatus: eastern Panama and northern Colombia.

South American Races:

• latifrons: western Colombia and western Ecuador
• zuliensis: eastern Colombia and western Venezuela
• major: the Guianas and northern Brazil
• olivascens: eastern Brazil
• peruvianus: eastern Colombia, eastern Ecuador and eastern Peru
• serratus: southern Venezuela and western Brazil.

[edit] Habitat

Rainforest and cloud forest from sea-level up to 1,500m and often near water. Nests at the base of a tree and roosts in trees. Fairly common over much of range and less secretive than some other tinamous, though more often heard than seen, usually solitary.

[edit] Behaviour

Plaintive tremulous paired whistles, uttered most often at dawn and dusk.

[edit] External Links