Details
Tinamus major
The great tinamou is a large tinamou that lives quietly on Neotropical forest floors. It is most active in dim light and is often detected by its clear whistled calls.
Map: Ecoregions 2017 © RESOLVE (CC BY 4.0) · Natural Earth (PD)
It uses lowland tropical forest, humid woodland, and mature secondary forest. Dense understory and leaf litter provide cover and foraging sites.
Length is 40-49 cm and weight 700-1200 g. The body is rounded with a short tail, and brown to olive mottling blends with the forest floor.
Crepuscular and mostly solitary, it walks through cover. It can fly but only for short distances, usually crouching or running first when threatened.
An omnivore, it eats fallen fruit, seeds, insects, and small invertebrates. It pecks through leaf litter for food on the ground.
The male incubates eggs in a ground nest, and several females may lay in the same male's nest. The eggs are glossy blue-green and conspicuous.
It is listed as Least Concern. Populations can remain stable in broad forest, but hunting and deforestation create local pressure.
