Chilean tinamou

All tinamous are from the family Tinamidae, and in the larger scheme are also ratites. Unlike other ratites, tinamou can fly, although in general, they are not strong fliers. All ratites evolved from prehistoric flying birds, and tinamou are the closest living relative of these birds.[4] 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.[5]

The Chilean tinamou can be found in the high elevation shrubland at 400 to 2,000 m (1,300–6,600 ft) elevation. This species is native to all of Chile except southern Los Lagos, Tarapacá, Antofagasta, Aisén, and Magallanes y Antarctica Chilena.[3][6] This tinamou can also be found in arid mountain forests in association with such trees as Acacia caven, Porlieria chilensis and the endangered Jubaea chilensis.[7] It has been introduced to Easter Island.[8]

The Chilean tinamou is approximately 29 cm (11 in) in length. It is almost tail-less and is stocky in shape. It has a bill that is curved and similar to the California quail. It has thick, short, pale, yellowish legs. It generally walks upright and has "short tail and tail coverts drooping behind legs." The pattern on its upper body looks striped, but is more complex in detail. It has a buffy face with a dark eyeline that is drooping and a small strip on its cheek, with a lighter colored crown. Its neck is brown and its lower neck has dark spots. It has a complex patterns that streak on the side of the chest, which is grey. The Chilean tinamou, just south of the Maule Region, has a brownish chest instead of a grey chest and more and reddish brown stripes on its upper body and buttocks. For both regions, it has large wings that cover the body when on ground, and when flying the wings appear large and reddish brown underneath. The wings are also rounded.[9]

It has a loud stride whistle that sounds double-syllabled and sounds like "sweee weee." When under stress, it releases a lowering series of whistles that sounds like "swee wee wee wee" along with fast-paced wing sounds.[9]

The females lay 10-12 glossy eggs in a scrape. The male incubates the eggs and raises the chicks.[4] The eggs are covered with feathers when left unattended. Incubation is around 21 days. The chicks are buff with dark stripes, and run soon after hatching and fly when half-grown. Later in life blue or gray spots may appear.

The IUCN classifies the Chilean tinamou as Least Concern,[1] with an occurrence range of 120,000 km² (46,000 sq mi).[6]

• BirdLife International (2008). "Bartlett's Tinamou - BirdLife Species Factsheet". Data Zone. Retrieved 12 Feb 2009.
• Brands, Sheila (Aug 14, 2008). "Systema Naturae 2000 / Classification, Nothoprocta perdicaria". Project: The Taxonomicon. Retrieved 12 Feb 2009.
• Clements, James (2007). The Clements Checklist of the Birds of the World (6th ed.). Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press. ISBN 978-0-8014-4501-9.
• Davies, S.J.J.F. (2003). "Tinamous". In Hutchins, Michael (ed.). Grzimek's Animal Life Encyclopedia. Vol. 8 Birds I Tinamous and Ratites to Hoatzins (2nd ed.). Farmington Hills, MI: Gale Group. pp. 57–59. ISBN 0-7876-5784-0.
• Gotch, A. F. (1995) [1979]. "Tinamous". Latin Names Explained. A Guide to the Scientific Classifications of Reptiles, Birds & Mammals. New York, NY: Facts on File. p. 183. ISBN 0-8160-3377-3.
• Hogan, Michael C.(2008) Chilean Wine Palm: Jubaea chilensis, GlobalTwitcher.com, ed. Nicklas Stromberg
• Jaramillo, A.; Johnson, M. T. J.; Rothfels, C. R.; Johnson, R. A. (2008). "The native and exotic avifauna of Easter Island: then and now" (PDF). Boletin Chileno de Ornitologia. 14: 8–21. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2011-07-18. Retrieved 2010-02-18.
• Jaramillo, Alvaro. Birds of Chile. Princeton: Princeton University Press (2003). ISBN 0-691-11740-3

• Chilean Tinamou videos, photos & sounds on the Internet Bird Collection