Thicket Tinamou

Thicket Tinamou
Conservation status
Least Concern (IUCN 3.1)[1]
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Aves
Order:	Tinamiformes
Family:	Tinamidae
Subfamily:	Tinaminae
Genus:	Crypturellus
Species:	C. cinnamomeus
Binomial name
Crypturellus cinnamomeus (Lesson, 1842)[2]
Sub-species
C. c. cinnamomeus (Lesson, 1842)[2] C. c. occidentalis (Salvadori, 1895)[2] C. c. mexicanus (Salvadori, 1895)[2] C. c. sallaei (Bonaparte, 1856)[2] C. c. golmani (Nelson, 1901)[2] C. c. soconuscensis (Brodkorb, 1939)[2] C. c. vicinior (Conover, 1933)[2] C. c. delattrii (Bonaparte, 1854)[2] C. c. praepes (Bangs & Peters, 1927)[2]
Synonyms
Tinamus cinnamomeus[3] Nothura cinnamomeus[3]

The Thicket Tinamou or Rufescent Tinamou, Crypturellus cinnamomeus, is a type of Tinamou commonly found in moist forests in subtropical and tropical Central Mexico.^[4] Although the Thicket Tinamou is recognized by most authorities, the SACC still classifies this bird as a sub-species of Crypturellus erythropus, Red-legged Tinamou.^[5]

Taxonomy

All tinamou are from the family Tinamidae, and in the larger scheme are also Ratites. Unlike other Ratites, Tinamous can fly, although in general, they are not strong fliers. All ratites evolved from prehistoric flying birds, and Tinamous are the closest living relative of these birds.^[6]

René-Primevère Lesson identified the Thicket Tinamou from a specimen from La Unión, El Salvador., in 1842.^[6]

Subspecies

The Thicket Tinamou has many subspecies as follows:

• C. c. cinnamomeus (Nominate race) occurs in coastal southeastern Mexico (Chiapas) State, El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras.^[4]
• C. c. occidentalis occurs on the coastal western Mexico; Sinaloa, Nayarit, Jalisco, Colima, Michoacán, and Guerrero States.^[4]
• C. c. mexicanus occurs in coastal northeastern Mexico; Tamaulipas, northern Veracruz, and Puebla States.^[4]
• C. c. sallaei occurs in southern Mexico; Puebla, Chiapas, Oaxaca, and southern Veracruz States.^[4]
• C. c. goldmani occurs in southeastern Mexico, on the Yucatan Peninsula; Yucatán, Quintana Roo, Campeche, and eastern Tabasco States, northern Petén Department, Guatemala, and northern Belize.^[4]
• C. c. soconuscensis occurs on the Pacific slope of Chiapas and Oaxaca States, Mexico.^[4]
• C. c. vicinior occurs in the highlands of Chiapas State, Mexico, Guatemala, and western Honduras.^[4]
• C. c. delattrii occurs in the Pacific lowlands of Nicaragua; Chinandega, León, Managua, Carazo, Masaya, Granada, and Rivas Departments.^[4]
• C. c. praepes occurs in the lowlands of northwestern Costa Rica; Guanacaste, and northern Puntarenas Provinces.^[4]

Etymology

Crypturellus is formed from three Latin or Greek words. kruptos (κρυπτός) meaning covered or hidden, oura meaning tail, and ellus meaning diminutive. Therefore Crypturellus means small hidden tail.^[7]

Description

The Thicket Tinamou is 27–29 cm (11–11 in) in length and weighs 440 g (16 oz).^[6] Its upper parts are brown, heavily barred blackish on back, rump and wings. Its lowerparts pale brown, cinnamon on breast, greyer on belly and undertail whitish with dark barring. Its head brown with prominent buff supercilium and well-defined ear covert patch with bill brownish and legs red in color.

Behavior

The species has a monotonous voice ‘whoo-oo’, sounding like a steam engine. The Thicket Tinamou can be found in pairs, families or as a solitary bird and like most Tinamous it prefers to walk than fly.^[6]

Feeding

Like most Tinamous, it will eat fruit, seeds and invertebrates.^[6]

Reproduction

Like most Tinamous, it will place its nest on the ground alongside raised roots. It will contain around three eggs, but as many as seven, that are glossy and purple in color. This species and the Slaty-breasted Tinamou will produce hybrids.^[6]

Range

This species ranges from Sinaloa, (coastal strip, western Mexico), to Costa Rica, and eastern coastal Mexico, from the United States border into Belize. In the southern part of its range it ventures into the highlands as well.^[4]

Habitat

This species prefers moist lowland forest, gallery forest, deciduous forest, and secondary forest^[3] in subtropical and tropical regions, but will be found in shrubland and drier forests up to 1,850 m (6,070 ft) altitude.^[6][8]

Conservation

The IUCN lists this bird as Least Concern,^[1] with an occurrence range of 600,000 km² (230,000 sq mi).^[8]

Footnotes

1. ^ ^{a b} BirdLife International (2008)
2. ^ ^{a b c d e f g h i j} Brands, S. (2008)
3. ^ ^{a b c} American Ornithologists' Union (1998)
4. ^ ^{a b c d e f g h i j k} Clements, J (2007)
5. ^ Gill, F. (2009)
6. ^ ^{a b c d e f g} Davies, S. J. J. F. (2003)
7. ^ Gotch, A. F. (1195)
8. ^ ^{a b} BirdLand International (2008)(a)

References

• American Ornithologists' Union (1998) [1983] "Tinamiformes: Tinamidae: Tinamous" (PDF) Check-list of North American Birds (7th ed.) Washington, D.C.: American Ornithologists' Union . p. 2 . ISBN 1-891276-00-X http://www.aou.org/checklist/north/pdf/AOUchecklistTin-Falcon.pdf 
• BirdLife International (2008). Crypturellus cinnamomeus. 2006. IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. IUCN 2006. www.iucnredlist.org. Retrieved on 08 Feb 2009.
• BirdLife International (2008(a)). "Thicket Tinamou - BirdLife Species Factsheet". Data Zone. http://www.birdlife.org/datazone/species/index.html?action=SpcHTMDetails.asp&sid=24&m=0. Retrieved 08 Feb 2009. 
• Brands, Sheila (Aug 14 2008). "Systema Naturae 2000 / Classification, Crypturellus cinnamomeus". Project: The Taxonomicon. http://www.taxonomy.nl/Main/Classification/51335.htm. Retrieved Feb 04 2009. 
• Clements, James (2007). The Clements Checklist of the Birds of the World (6 ed.). Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press. ISBN 978 0 8014 4501 9. 
• Davies, S.J.J.F. (2003). "Tinamous". In Hutchins, Michael. Grzimek's Animal Life Encyclopedia. 8 Birds I Tinamous and Ratites to Hoatzins (2 ed.). Farmington Hills, MI: Gale Group. pp. 57–59, 62–63. ISBN 0 7876 5784 0. 
• Gill, F.; Wright, M.; Donsker, D. (19 Jan 2009). "IOC World Birdlist 2.0". IOC World Bird List. WorldBirdNames.org. http://www.worldbirdnames.org/n-ratites.html#Footnotes-2. Retrieved 08 Feb 2009. 
• 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. 

External links

• Thicket Tinamou photo; Article
• Thicket Tinamou photo; Article