Undulated Tinamou
Encyclopedia
The Undulated Tinamou is a species of ground bird
found in a wide range of wooded habitats in eastern and northern South America
.
or Greek
words. Kruptos meaning covered or hidden, oura meaning tail, and ellus meaning diminutive. Therefore Crypturellus means small hidden tail. The species name undulatus originates from the Latin word for wave, and refers to the wave-like pattern on its plumage
.
s. 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.
However, the exact distribution limits of some of the subspecies are unclear. Notably the population between the Madeira and Purús Rivers (between generally reported range of C. u. adspersus and C. u. yapura), and the population between the Tapajós and Araguaia River
s (between generally reported range of C. u. adspersus and C. u. vermiculatus) appear not to have been assigned to subspecies.
with dark vermiculation on its lower flanks and vent. Its bill
is black above and grey below. The legs and feet are grey, dull yellow or greenish.
As other tinamous, the Undulated Tinamou is secretive, and more frequently heard than seen. The song, commonly given throughout the day, consists of a deep, three or four noted whistle, which has been described by the onomatopoetic com-pra pan ("buy bread" in Spanish
) or Eu sou jaó ("I am Undulated Tinamou" in Portuguese
).
, significant parts are in drier habitats such as the Cerrado
(most of the range of C. u. vermiculatus is in the Cerrado region). Though generally considered resident, minor seasonal movements between habitats do occur locally.
, and its range of occurrence has been estimated to 8600000 km² (3,320,478.6 sq mi).
Bird
Birds are feathered, winged, bipedal, endothermic , egg-laying, vertebrate animals. Around 10,000 living species and 188 families makes them the most speciose class of tetrapod vertebrates. They inhabit ecosystems across the globe, from the Arctic to the Antarctic. Extant birds range in size from...
found in a wide range of wooded habitats in eastern and northern South America
South America
South America is a continent situated in the Western Hemisphere, mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere. The continent is also considered a subcontinent of the Americas. It is bordered on the west by the Pacific Ocean and on the north and east...
.
Etymology
Crypturellus is formed from three LatinLatin
Latin is an Italic language originally spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. It, along with most European languages, is a descendant of the ancient Proto-Indo-European language. Although it is considered a dead language, a number of scholars and members of the Christian clergy speak it fluently, and...
or Greek
Greek language
Greek is an independent branch of the Indo-European family of languages. Native to the southern Balkans, it has the longest documented history of any Indo-European language, spanning 34 centuries of written records. Its writing system has been the Greek alphabet for the majority of its history;...
words. Kruptos meaning covered or hidden, oura meaning tail, and ellus meaning diminutive. Therefore Crypturellus means small hidden tail. The species name undulatus originates from the Latin word for wave, and refers to the wave-like pattern on its plumage
Plumage
Plumage refers both to the layer of feathers that cover a bird and the pattern, colour, and arrangement of those feathers. The pattern and colours of plumage vary between species and subspecies and can also vary between different age classes, sexes, and season. Within species there can also be a...
.
Taxonomy
All tinamous are from the family Tinamidae, and in the larger scheme are also ratiteRatite
A ratite is any of a diverse group of large, flightless birds of Gondwanan origin, most of them now extinct. Unlike other flightless birds, the ratites have no keel on their sternum—hence the name from the Latin ratis...
s. 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.
Subspecies
- C. u. manapiare is only known with certainty from the vicinity of the Ventuari RiverVentuari RiverThe Ventuari River is a river in the Orinoco basin in Venezuela. The Ventuari flows from eastern Venezuela in the Guiana Highlands southwest into the Orinoco River. It is 520 km long and its major tributary is the Manapiare River.-References:...
in northern Amazonas StateAmazonas (Venezuelan state)Amazonas State is one of the 23 states into which Venezuela is divided.The state capital is Puerto Ayacucho. The capital until the early 1900s was San Fernando de Atabapo. Although named after the Amazon River, most of the state is drained by the Orinoco. Amazonas State covers a total surface...
in VenezuelaVenezuelaVenezuela , officially called the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela , is a tropical country on the northern coast of South America. It borders Colombia to the west, Guyana to the east, and Brazil to the south...
, but probably also occurs in southwestern Amazonas State. - C. u. simplex occurs in southern GuyanaGuyanaGuyana , officially the Co-operative Republic of Guyana, previously the colony of British Guiana, is a sovereign state on the northern coast of South America that is culturally part of the Anglophone Caribbean. Guyana was a former colony of the Dutch and of the British...
, French GuianaFrench GuianaFrench Guiana is an overseas region of France, consisting of a single overseas department located on the northern Atlantic coast of South America. It has borders with two nations, Brazil to the east and south, and Suriname to the west...
(where only known from sight records) and northeastern BrazilBrazilBrazil , officially the Federative Republic of Brazil , is the largest country in South America. It is the world's fifth largest country, both by geographical area and by population with over 192 million people...
(east of the Rio Negro and north of the Amazon RiverAmazon RiverThe Amazon of South America is the second longest river in the world and by far the largest by waterflow with an average discharge greater than the next seven largest rivers combined...
). - C. u. adspersus occurs in Brazil south of the Amazon River, from the Tapajós River to the Madeira RiverMadeira RiverThe Madeira River is a major waterway in South America, approximately 3,250 km miles long The Madeira is the biggest tributary of the Amazon...
. - C. u. yapura occurs in southeastern ColombiaColombiaColombia, officially the Republic of Colombia , is a unitary constitutional republic comprising thirty-two departments. The country is located in northwestern South America, bordered to the east by Venezuela and Brazil; to the south by Ecuador and Peru; to the north by the Caribbean Sea; to the...
, eastern EcuadorEcuadorEcuador , officially the Republic of Ecuador is a representative democratic republic in South America, bordered by Colombia on the north, Peru on the east and south, and by the Pacific Ocean to the west. It is one of only two countries in South America, along with Chile, that do not have a border...
, northeastern and east-central PeruPeruPeru , officially the Republic of Peru , is a country in western South America. It is bordered on the north by Ecuador and Colombia, on the east by Brazil, on the southeast by Bolivia, on the south by Chile, and on the west by the Pacific Ocean....
, and western Brazil (east to Rio Negro and the Purús River). - C. u. vermiculatus occurs in eastern Brazil from MaranhãoMaranhãoMaranhão is a northeastern state of Brazil. To the north lies the Atlantic Ocean. Maranhão is neighbored by the states of Piauí, Tocantins and Pará. The people of Maranhão have a distinctive accent...
, TocantinsTocantinsTocantins may refer to:* Tocantins, a state in Brazil* Tocantins River, a river in Brazil* Survivor: Tocantins, a reality show set in Tocantins, Brazil* Tocantins Esporte Clube, a Brazilian football club...
, and Mato GrossoMato GrossoMato Grosso is one of the states of Brazil, the third largest in area, located in the western part of the country.Neighboring states are Rondônia, Amazonas, Pará, Tocantins, Goiás and Mato Grosso do Sul. It also borders Bolivia to the southwest...
and east. - C. u. undulatus occurs in southeastern Peru, eastern and northern BoliviaBoliviaBolivia officially known as Plurinational State of Bolivia , is a landlocked country in central South America. It is the poorest country in South America...
, the PantanalPantanalThe Pantanal is a tropical wetland and one of the world's largest wetland of any kind. Most of it lies within the Brazilian state of Mato Grosso do Sul, but it extends into Mato Grosso and portions of Bolivia and Paraguay, sprawling over an area estimated at between and...
region in Brazil, ParaguayParaguayParaguay , officially the Republic of Paraguay , is a landlocked country in South America. It is bordered by Argentina to the south and southwest, Brazil to the east and northeast, and Bolivia to the northwest. Paraguay lies on both banks of the Paraguay River, which runs through the center of the...
, and northern ArgentinaArgentinaArgentina , officially the Argentine Republic , is the second largest country in South America by land area, after Brazil. It is constituted as a federation of 23 provinces and an autonomous city, Buenos Aires...
.
However, the exact distribution limits of some of the subspecies are unclear. Notably the population between the Madeira and Purús Rivers (between generally reported range of C. u. adspersus and C. u. yapura), and the population between the Tapajós and Araguaia River
Araguaia River
The Araguaia River or, in Portuguese, Rio Araguaia is one of the major rivers of Brazil, and the principal tributary of the Tocantins. It has a total length of approximately 2,627 km. Araguaia means "river of macaws" in the Tupi language....
s (between generally reported range of C. u. adspersus and C. u. vermiculatus) appear not to have been assigned to subspecies.
Description
The Undulated Tinamou is approximately 28 to 30 cm (11 to 11.8 in) in length, and weighs around 300 gram (0.661386786554633 lb). Depending on subspecies, it is overall brownish tinged grey to various extend, and has a strong, black barred to faint vermiculated pattern on the back and neck (for example, while C. u. undulatus is relatively rich brown and strongly barred, C. u. yapura is darker, more grey-tinged and only has faint vermiculations). It has a whitish throat, and the remainder of its underparts are olive-grey to buffBuff (colour)
Buff is a pale yellow-brown colour that got its name from the colour of buff leather.Displayed on the right is the colour buff.EtymologyAccording to the Oxford English Dictionary, buff as a descriptor of a colour was first used in the London Gazette of 1686, describing a uniform to be "A Red Coat...
with dark vermiculation on its lower flanks and vent. Its bill
Beak
The beak, bill or rostrum is an external anatomical structure of birds which is used for eating and for grooming, manipulating objects, killing prey, fighting, probing for food, courtship and feeding young...
is black above and grey below. The legs and feet are grey, dull yellow or greenish.
Behavior
The nest of the Undulated Tinamou consists of a depression on the ground, where the female lays around three glossy vinaceous pink or light grey eggs. The incubation time is 17 days in captivity. It feeds on small fruits, seeds and insects.As other tinamous, the Undulated Tinamou is secretive, and more frequently heard than seen. The song, commonly given throughout the day, consists of a deep, three or four noted whistle, which has been described by the onomatopoetic com-pra pan ("buy bread" in Spanish
Spanish language
Spanish , also known as Castilian , is a Romance language in the Ibero-Romance group that evolved from several languages and dialects in central-northern Iberia around the 9th century and gradually spread with the expansion of the Kingdom of Castile into central and southern Iberia during the...
) or Eu sou jaó ("I am Undulated Tinamou" in Portuguese
Brazilian Portuguese
Brazilian Portuguese is a group of Portuguese dialects written and spoken by most of the 190 million inhabitants of Brazil and by a few million Brazilian emigrants, mainly in the United States, United Kingdom, Portugal, Canada, Japan and Paraguay....
).
Habitat
The Undulated Tinamou occurs at altitudes of up to 900 m (2,952.8 ft). It occurs in a wide range of wooded habitats, ranging from dense, humid Amazonian forests, to dry, relatively open savanna-woodland. Although most of the range of the Undulated Tinamou is in the Amazon BasinAmazon Basin
The Amazon Basin is the part of South America drained by the Amazon River and its tributaries that drains an area of about , or roughly 40 percent of South America. The basin is located in the countries of Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, Guyana, Peru, and Venezuela...
, significant parts are in drier habitats such as the Cerrado
Cerrado
The Cerrado, is a vast tropical savanna ecoregion of Brazil, particularly in the states of Gioas and Minas Gerais...
(most of the range of C. u. vermiculatus is in the Cerrado region). Though generally considered resident, minor seasonal movements between habitats do occur locally.
Conservation
Though heavily hunted in some regions, the Undulated Tinamou remains common in most parts of its range. The IUCN classifies it as Least ConcernLeast Concern
Least Concern is an IUCN category assigned to extant taxon or lower taxa which have been evaluated but do not qualify for any other category. As such they do not qualify as threatened, Near Threatened, or Conservation Dependent...
, and its range of occurrence has been estimated to 8600000 km² (3,320,478.6 sq mi).
External links
- Undulated Tinamou videos, photos & sounds on the Internet Bird Collection
- Photo of Crypturellus u. undulatus. Eric Gallardo. WikiAves.
- Photo of Crypturellus undulatus adspersus. Anselmo d'Affonseca. WikiAves.
- Photo of Crypturellus undulatus simplex. Kurazo M. Okada Aguiar. WikiAves.
- Photo of Crypturellus undulatus vermiculatus. Geiser Trivelato. WikiAves.
- Recordings of the Undulated Tinamou. Xeno-Canto.