Tinamou (Eudromia elegans)

BirdGround birdAmericas

Overview

Tinamous (family Tinamidae) are plump, rounded, ground-dwelling birds of Central and South America, superficially resembling partridges or small gamebirds. The elegant crested tinamou (Eudromia elegans), shown here, is a typical example, with finely patterned brown plumage and a slender, forward-curving crest. Tinamous can fly, but only in short, reluctant bursts; they spend their lives walking and running on the forest or grassland floor.

Despite their gamebird looks, tinamous are actually relatives of the flightless ratites — ostriches, emus, rheas, and kiwis — making them an ancient and evolutionarily important group, and the only members of that lineage that can truly fly.

Note: there are many tinamou species; details here use the elegant crested tinamou as a reference. Treat general statements as approximate and verify against authoritative sources.

Habitat & Range

Tinamous live across Central and South America in a wide variety of habitats — tropical rainforest, dry forest, scrub, grassland, and high Andean páramo — depending on the species. The elegant crested tinamou is a bird of open scrub and grassland in southern South America, while many other tinamous keep to dense forest understorey.

Diet

Tinamous are mostly omnivores, foraging on the ground for fruit, seeds, buds, and roots, along with insects and other small invertebrates and occasionally small vertebrates. They feed quietly as they walk, picking food from the ground and low vegetation.

Behavior

Tinamous are shy, well-camouflaged birds that rely on stillness and cryptic plumage to avoid predators, flushing into short, whirring flight only as a last resort. They are best known for two things: their beautiful eggs — glossy, hard, and brightly coloured (blue, green, purple, or chocolate) with an almost porcelain or enamel-like sheen — and their reversed parental roles. In many tinamous a female mates with several males, and each male incubates a clutch (often from several females) and raises the chicks largely alone.

Human Interaction & Conservation

Tinamous are hunted for food in parts of their range and are valued as game birds, and their striking eggs attract attention from naturalists. Many species are common, but some forest tinamous are sensitive to habitat loss and hunting. Scientifically, they are important for understanding the evolution of birds and the ratite lineage. Consult authoritative sources for species-specific status.

More photos of the tinamou