Chilean Tinamou

Chilean Tinamou
Illustration by Keulemans, 1895
Conservation status
Least Concern (IUCN 3.1)[1]
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Aves
Order:	Tinamiformes
Family:	Tinamidae
Genus:	Nothoprocta
Species:	N. perdicaria
Binomial name
Nothoprocta perdicaria (Kittlitz, 1830)[2]
Sub-species
N. p. perdicaria (Kittlitz, 1830)[2] N. p. sanborni (Conover, 1924)[2]
Synonyms
Nothoprocta coquimbica

The Chilean Tinamou, Nothoprocta perdicaria, is a type of tinamou commonly found in high altitude shrubland in subtropical regions of central Chile.^[3]

Etymology

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.^[4]

Taxonomy

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.^[5]

Subspecies

The Chilean Tinamou has two subspecies as follows:

• N. p. perdicaria, nominate race, occurs in the semi-arid grasslands of north central Chile; Atacama, Coquimbo, Valparaíso, Santiago, O'Higgins, Maule Regions, and northern Biobio Region or Ñuble Province.^[3].
• N. p. sanborni occurs in south central Chile; Maule, Bio-bio, Araucanía Regions, and northern Los Lagos Region and adjacent Argentina^[3]

Description

The Chilean Tinamou is approximately 30 cm (12 in) in length. Its upper parts grayish brown to olive, and have dark barring and pale streaking, its throat is white, its breast is gray, and its belly is buff. Its bill is brown and its legs are pale yellow to brown.

Behavior

The females lay 10-12 glossy eggs in a scrape. The male incubates the eggs and raises the chicks.^[5] 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

Range and habitat

The Chilean Tinamou can be found in the high altitude shrubland at 400–2,000 m (1,300–6,600 ft) altitude. This species is native to all of Chile except southern Los Lagos, Tarapacá, Antofagasta, Aisén, and Magallanes y Antarctica Chilena, and can also be found in adjacent areas of Argentina.^[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]

Conservation

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

Footnotes

1. ^ ^{a b} BirdLife International (2008)
2. ^ ^{a b c} Brands, S. (2008)
3. ^ ^{a b c d} Clements, J (2007)
4. ^ Gotch, A. F. (1995)
5. ^ ^{a b} Davies, S. J. J. F. (2003)
6. ^ ^{a b} BirdLife International (2008)(a)
7. ^ Hogan, Michael C.(2008)
8. ^ Jaramillo, A. (2008)

References

• BirdLife International (2008). Nothoprocta perdicaria. In: IUCN 2008. IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Downloaded on 12 Feb 2009.
• BirdLife International (2008(a)). "Bartlett's Tinamou - BirdLife Species Factsheet". Data Zone. http://www.birdlife.org/datazone/species/index.html?action=SpcHTMDetails.asp&sid=38&m=0. Retrieved 12 Feb 2009. 
• Brands, Sheila (Aug 14 2008). "Systema Naturae 2000 / Classification, Nothoprocta perdicaria". Project: The Taxonomicon. http://www.taxonomy.nl/Main/Classification/51370.htm. Retrieved 12 Feb 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. 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". Boletin Chileno de Ornitologia 14: 8–21. http://web.duke.edu/~mtj5/papers/Jaramillo%20et%20al%2008_In%20Press.pdf. Retrieved 2010-02-18. 

External links

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