The cinereous tinamou (Crypturellus cinereus), also known as brushland tinamou, is a type of ground bird found in swamp and lowland forests in northern South America. They have some localized names that have been used by the indigenous people such as in Amazonas where they are called inambu-pixuna, and in Pará, Brazil where they are called nambu-sujo. Also, throughout their range they are called inhambu-preto. Cinereous tinamous have been around for many centuries. They are part of the oldest families of the world today and have fossils discovered dating back tens of millions of years. Their quick reflexes play a role in their ability to survive.
Taxonomy
The cinereous tinamou was formally described in 1789 by the German naturalist Johann Friedrich Gmelin in his revised and expanded edition of Carl Linnaeus's Systema Naturae. He placed it with all the grouse like birds in the genus Tetrao and coined the binomial name Tetrao cinereus. Gmelin based his description on "Le tinamou cendré" from French Guiana that had been described in 1778 by the French polymath Georges-Louis Leclerc, Comte de Buffon in his Histoire Naturelle des Oiseaux. The cinereous tinamou is now placed with around twenty other tinamou in the genus Crypturellus that was introduced in 1914 by the British ornithologists Baron Brabourne and Charles Chubb. The genus name combines the Ancient Greek κρυπτός (kruptós) meaning "hidden" with οὐρά (oura) meaning "tail". The -ellus is a diminutive so that the name means "small hidden tail". The specific epithet cinereus is Latin meaning "ash-grey" or "ash coloured". The cinereous tinamou is monotypic: no subspecies are recognised.
All tinamous 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.
Description
The cinereous tinamou is a shy and secretive bird. It is approximately in length, and the male bird weighs around and the female of the species weighs .
It is colored similar to the Berlepsch's tinamou in that it is dark brown to sooty brown or brownish black in coloration. It tends to be a slightly more brown than the Berlepsch's tinamou. It is recognized by its smoky-grey with reddish-brown crown and nape. The feather shafts on side of its head are white, which shows through on occasion. Their color helps them blend with the environment making it harder for predators to detect them. The under parts of the bird are only slightly paler than the body, and the legs appear a dull orange to yellow. They have a light-colored eye ring. Their bill has a dark upper mandible and a yellow lower mandible. In general, their bill is very similar to the Berlpesch's tinamou's except it trends smaller and thinner. The females are generally slightly larger in size then the males.
The cinereous tinamou is specially known to be easy to hear, but very difficult to see. It has a loud distinctive whistle heard mainly at dawn and dusk. The whistle has a unique pitch and last almost two seconds between each whistle. It is mostly heard at dawn and dusk, and are monosyllabic. The bird is very capable of projecting its voice to seem like it came from another direction so hearing them and finding their exact location is very difficult. The call between the males and females are similar but not identical to the human ear. The space between calls shortens as time progresses, so as to appear as to be speeding up in frequency.
Distribution and habitat
The cinereous tinamou is a sedentary species. It is native to southern Colombia, southern Venezuela, Suriname, Guyana, French Guiana, northern and western Brazil, eastern Ecuador, eastern Peru, and northern Bolivia. Within Brazil, it occupies the Amazon Basin south to Mato Grosso and east to Pará.
It lives in a lowland rainforest or swamp forest, up to altitude. It also occupies second growth forest, along with bushy areas with scattered trees. It has been known to take advantage of coffee and cocoa plantations and, on occasion, will utilize savanna. It prefers to live near streams or thick swamp woods. Its preferred habitat is thick, dark, and dense. It is abundant, within the upper Amazon, in the varzea.