Juvenile Birds in the Ecuadorian Amazon (1 Viewer)

[payaminotom]

EDIT: IGNORE DESCRIPTION, PLEASE READ DISCUSSION

These juvenile Tinamous were encountered around an Oxbow lake in secondary forest within the Ecuadorian Amazon, altitude about 250m, not far from small human habitation and within small scale agroforestry area. There was at least one other individual present, possibly a parent, but it was not filmed. This ID has posed a big challenge to me as I have found information online about juvenile tinamous to be extremely minimal. But there are some very key features here: you can see proportion quite well, plumage patterns are apparent, and the birds are calling.

Obviously this is an extremely challenging ID, but any resources or information provided will be very welcome. I have included the straight mp3 and sonogram incase it is helpful.
The potential candidate species are Great Tinamou, White-throated Tinamou, Cinereous Tinamou, Little Tinamou, Undulated Tinamou, Variegated Tinamou and Bartlett's Tinamou.

Thankyou for any and all input!

 

[Andy Adcock]

Surely a Gallinule species?

 

[payaminotom]

You know what Andy I think you may be onto something there. As soon as I read your comment I realised I don't know why I had become so fixated upon a rough ID my colleagues and I had decided upon in the field, almost four years ago now... well you live and you learn! I'm going to take a closer look at other potential candidate species, but if you have any expertise in identifying juvenile birds, the province was Orellana, Ecuador.

Thanks Andy I really appreciate it.

 

[THE_FERN]

I can't make much from the images but the sounds certainly do sound like a tinamou

 

[payaminotom]

I can't make much from the images but the sounds certainly do sound like a tinamou

The call was the factor that made me say Tinamou instinctively, but now re-examining the video I see what Andy is saying about Gallinule.

 

[Andy Adcock]

I can't make much from the images but the sounds certainly do sound like a tinamou

But they don't look like Tinamou, body shape is wrong, maybe it wasn't them calling. These birds look to still be 'in pin' and in water, would they even, be calling at this age?

 

[payaminotom]

But they don't look like Tinamou, body shape is wrong, maybe it wasn't them calling. These birds look to still be 'in pin' and in water, would they even, be calling at this age?

It is definitely the birds in the video calling. There is another clip (which cannot be shared due to data protection issues in audio) in which it is undeniable that the call is coming from the two birds in question. Maybe I can remove the audio from the other clip and post it to give a better chance of ID. Bare with me.

 

[THE_FERN]

It is definitely the birds in the video calling. There is another clip (which cannot be shared due to data protection issues in audio) in which it is undeniable that the call is coming from the two birds in question. Maybe I can remove the audio from the other clip and post it to give a better chance of ID. Bare with me.

Well if you can. I'm certainly curious to see more.

 

[payaminotom]

Well if you can. I'm certainly curious to see more.

Here you go @THE_FERN and @Andy Adcock

The quality had to be slightly condensed, sorry about the fuzziness
View attachment 00323 no audio.mp4

 

[Andy Adcock]

Gallinule sp for me.

 

[THE_FERN]

Gallinule sp for me.

not a gallinule for me—doesn't sound like the candidates (azure, purple)—and I think I can see the birds calling in the first vid. They're not tinamous. Look more like wood-rails or similar but I can't find a good fit. Suggest that's where to look: crakes, rails etc. We can see this by their feet.

 

[AveryBartels]

Yeah, the video with them swimming pretty much rules out Tinamous! I think The Fern is likely onto something with his suggestion of rails. It's worth considering that the calls (usually begging calls) of fledglings are often nothing like the typical adult calls we associate with a species and there is a good chance that there won't even be any calls online to compare with. So, I would hesitate to think the audio will be helpful unless anyone has first hand expereince with juvenile begging calls of the local possible species.

 

[payaminotom]

Thanks everyone for your inputs, feel humbled by the breadth of knowledge everyone has shared! I know it may seem unbelievable that i thought these were Tinamous, but the experience of the encounter was quite unique: my colleagues and I flushed the birds from the undergrowth and to me it always seemed that they were wading in the shallow water, not swimming. The call really sold me, and i always had these videos had marked under my files as 'tinamou sp'. This is before I ever got into ornithology and birding, and was just recording any and all wildlife i encountered, so i had a real facepalm moment earlier realising i had just hadn't questioned my previous judgement.

I'm looking into the possibility of Grey-Cowled Wood Rail, if anyone is still interested, check out this recording i found of juveniles: XC257449 Grey-necked Wood Rail (Aramides cajaneus)

 

[nartreb]

For what it's worth, I reviewed some photos of mine of a juvenile rufous-naped wood-rail (ID confirmed by presence of parent), a very similar species. My bird was a bit older, so plumage comparison wasn't too informative, though some details seem to match, e.g. neck much paler in front than behind. Overall shape, head shape, beak size/shape all seem pretty close to me.

The one juvenile purple gallinule I've photographed had a mostly yellowish bill and a quite different head/neck shape/posture.