Great Tinamou Tinamus major Scientific name definitions

Great Tinamou is a large tinamou of lowland forest from southern Mexico south through the Amazon basin. Like other tinamous, this species is usually detected by voice. Its quavering and mournful, yet powerful, song is given mostly at dawn and dusk and can carry some distance through the forest. Birds forage by walking quietly along the ground. When startled, they explode into the air and crash off through the forest, resembling "cannonballs with heads and wings". Individuals roost at night on a branch or vine above the ground, resting their weight on pads on the upper portion of the tarsi. The large size and powerful, quavering song of the Great Tinamou distinguish it from most sympatric lowland tinamous.

40–46 cm; male 700–1142 g, female 945–1249 g. Large brownish tinamou with barred upperparts , whitest on throat and central belly. Nominate race has forehead and crown brown to rufescent (warmer than rest of plumage) with some short blackish bars, especially on side of anterior crown, often palest on forehead, and with short occipital crest; ground colour becomes buffier on nape and drab sandy brown on lower hindneck; upperparts and upperwing drab brown with irregular blackish barring, bars often boldest on greater coverts and narrowest or absent on lower rump and uppertail-coverts, latter narrowly tipped buff; remiges and tail with weaker pattern; face and side of head pale grey to buff, peppered dark brown, greyest and plainest around eye, with plain browner patch on ear-coverts; chin and throat white, becoming buff-spotted and darker brownish below, and then plain drab sandy-coloured on lower neck to breast, some darker greyish vermiculations visible at close range that become coarser, forming short dark bars on buffier ground colour over thighs and especially on flanks, contrasting pale buff to white central and rear belly; undertail-coverts patterned like rear flanks, but dark brownish bars broader and buff colour richer; iris blackish; bill dark horn-grey, part of lower mandible paler horn to fleshy colour; legs grey to light greyish-blue, rear scutellation rather buffy. Sexes similar in plumage, female larger than male. Immature is darker than adult, with some buff spotting, the dark bars less distinct above but heavier below. Races differ mainly in general coloration, crown colour and presence (and extent) or absence of occipital crest: <em>olivascens</em> is reminiscent of nominate, with rufescent crown, but occipital crest absent or much reduced, and brown of upperparts and upperwing more olive than on any other race; serratus is warmer brown above than nominate, dark dorsal barring not so prominent, posterior underparts generally paler and with less heavy markings; zuliensis is paler and more yellowish above than previous, brighter rufous on crown and more rufescent on side of head, underparts darker but with whiter belly, two morphs, one light and yellowish-olive and the other with darker and browner plumage; <em>peruvianus</em> has head rather uniformly fawn or cinnamon-brown, contrasting with white throat, and with grey collar on upper neck, is duller brown and more heavily barred above than previous race, greyish on lower neck and breast, darker on rest of underparts; brunneiventris is darker than castaneiceps on side of head, browner olive on underparts (absence of crest helps to separe it from saturatus); <em>castaneiceps</em> is similar to fuscipennis, but usually paler above, crown chestnut with narrow blackish markings , and sooty tinge (if present) restricted to forehead, darker chestnut on ear-coverts; robustus has sooty-blackish crown, is paler and duller than fuscipennis, darker and less grey than percautus; <em>fuscipennis</em> recalls previous race, also with blackish crown and lacking occipital crest, but darker and browner above and more reddish below; percautus is dull, with olivaceous tinge on upperwing-coverts, similar to robustus but paler, much greyer above, especially on neck and mantle, more extensively white on throat, breast also paler and belly often white; saturatus has occipital crest, differs from zuliensis in browner and more heavily barred upperparts, also underparts on average darker; latifrons differs from last in longer crest and dusky ear-coverts, crown may be chestnut, slate-coloured or bicoloured.

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Editor's Note: Additional distribution information for this taxon can be found in the 'Subspecies' article above. In the future we will develop a range-wide distribution article.

Dense primary and secondary rainforest , both terra firme and várzea, in tropical and subtropical zones up to 1500 m; prefers tall, undisturbed forest, with fairly open forest floor, although sometimes found in dense undergrowth in wetter parts of forest. Sometimes emerges into clearings or on to forest tracks.

Presumably sedentary. Sometimes emerges into clearings or forest tracks.

Berries, fruits and seeds, especially those of families Sapotaceae, Myrtaceae, Annonaceae and Lauraceae; also nuts; also small terrestrial animals, including worms (Annelida), insects, spiders (Araneae), small lizards and frogs. In one study in French Guiana, fruits formed 89% of diet and animal items just 2% (2 Erard, Théry and Sabatier (1991). Régime alimentaire de Tinamus major (Tinamidae), Crax alector (Cracidae) et Psophia crepitans (Psophiidae) en forêt Guyanaise. Gibier Faune Sauvage. 8: 183-210. Close ). Forages while walking about on forest floor . Generally solitary .

Melodious song consisting of a pure whistle followed by a quavering trill, repeated several times. Mainly vocal in late afternoon and at dusk. Often several birds responding, once an individual starts singing. Alarm a whistled “woo hoo hoo”.

Season mainly Jan–Jul, locally (e.g. Suriname) to Sept, where may nest throughout year. Nest  a scrape on ground between buttress roots of large tree, the depression lined with large dead leaves. Clutch 2–12 eggs  , normally 3–6, intense greenish blue, turquoise or violet, size 58·5–62 mm × 51·5–53 mm (race olivascens) (3 Peixoto Velho, P. P. (1932). Descrição de alguns ovos de aves do Brasil existentes nas colleções do museu. Boletim do Museu Nacional, Rio de Janeiro, Zoologia 8:49–60. Close ); incubation by male, starting when clutch complete, period 17 days (4 Brennan, P.L.R. (2009). Incubation in Great Tinamou (Tinamus major). Wilson Journal of Ornithology. 121(3): 506-511. Close ); hatchling with mostly chestnut-brown down, darker above  , whitish on belly, dark band across crown, another band through eye, lower back and rump barred creamy, flanks barred whitish. No other information.

Not globally threatened. Currently considered Near Threatened. Uplisted from Least Concern in 2012: based on a model of future deforestation in the Amazon basin (5 Soares-Filho, B. S., D. C. Nepstad, L. M. Curran, G. C. Cerqueira, R. A. Garcia, C. A. Ramos, E. Voll, A. McDonald, P. Lefebvre, and P. Schlesinger (2006). Modelling conservation in the Amazon Basin. Nature 440:520–523. Close ), and the sensitivity of this species to habitat fragmentation and hunting, its population is projected to decline significantly over the next two decades (6 Bird, J. P., J. M. Buchanan, A. C. Lees, R. P. Clay, P. F. Develey, I. Yépez, and S. H. M. Butchart (2011). Integrating spatially explicit habitat projections into extinction risk assessments: a reassessment of Amazonian avifauna incorporating projected deforestation. Diversity and Distributions 18(3):432–439. Close ). Common to fairly common in much of range, where forest still relatively intact; fairly scarce in Mexico. This species’ flesh is greatly appreciated as food, and it is extensively and heavily hunted, both traditionally by indigenous peoples and more recently by settlers; has become rare near human settlements. More severely threatened by deforestation, especially in Amazonia. Its furtive habits and its ability to pass unnoticed have helped it to survive in areas where other large gamebirds have been hunted out.