Brown Tinamou
The Brown Tinamou (Crypturellus obsoletus) is a dumpy, brownish ground bird found in humid lowland and montane forest in tropical and subtropical South America.
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.
Subspecies
Its distribution is highly disjunct with the subspecies being distributed as follows:
Subspecies
Its distribution is highly disjunct with the subspecies being distributed as follows:
- C. o. obsoletus, the nominate race, occurs in the Atlantic forest in southeastern Brazil, eastern Paraguay and Misiones, Argentina.
- C. o. griseiventris occurs throghout the valley of Rio Tapajós, Brazil; southwestern Pará, southeastern Amazonas, and central Mato Grosso.
- C. o. hypochraceus occurs in upper Rio Madeira valley in central Rondônia, Brazil.
- C. o. punensis occurs in the Yungas of central Bolivia and extreme southeastern Peru.
- C. o. traylori, Traylor's Tinamou, occurs in the Marcapata Valley of central Cusco, southeastern Peru.
- C. o. ochraceiventris occurs along the east Andean slopes in central Peru; Huanuco, Pasco, Junín, northern Ayacucho, and Cusco.
- C. o. castaneus occurs east of the Andes in northern Peru, Ecuador, and Colombia.
- C. o. knoxi occurs in sub-tropical northwestern Venezuela.
- C. o. cerviniventris occurs in northern Venezuela.
Additionally, there are records from north Mato Grosso in Brazil, but it remains unclear which subspecies is involved. Most subspecies occur in highlands, but hypochraceus, griseiventris, and the southern populations of the nominate taxon occur in lowlands. It is uncommon to rare in most of its range, but commoner in southeastern Brazil, where it is the most frequently encountered member of its genus.
