#tinamiformes

[herpsandbirds]

Cinereous Tinamou (Crypturellus cinereus), mother and chick, family Tinamidae, order Tinamiformes, northern Peru

Vulnerable.

The tinamous are an ancient group of birds, related to ratites (ostriches, rheas, emus, and cassowaries).

Though they are not strong flyers, they are capable of flight.

Many Tinamous are shy and secretive birds.

photograph by Lev Frid

[uncharismatic-fauna]

Uncharismatic Fact of the Day

Ostriches, kiwis, emus, and cassowaries all have one thing in common: they can't fly. For that reason alone, they must be awfully jealous of their cousins the tinamous! These birds are the only members of the infraclass Palaeognathae that are still able to fly, likely because they are quite a bit smaller and lighter than their relatives.

(Image: A great tinamou (Tinamus major) by Andres Vasquez Noboa)

[hasellia]

2026DrawDinoDaily, Day 81, Marchosauria, 21.03.2036

Elegant Crested Tinamou Eudromia elegans

Wah, not as happy with this one. Brain kinda melted today. Cute lil guys! They're ratites, so more Emu, Ostrich, Rhea or Cassowary than quail or partridge. Tinamous have basal characteristics of the ratite common ancestor, & indeed is the only ratite capable of (limited) powered flight. Strange that they radiated out from flying ancestors that all decided to stick to the ground, mostly independently. The only ones that are particularly close are the Emu & Cassowary ( to my knowledge, I could be wrong).

[best-bird-tournament]

Tinamou (Tinamiformes) order / Tinamidae family

Which is the best bird?

Tataupa tinamou

Elegant crested tinamou

Puna tinamou

Voting ended onJan 10

[all-bird-creechur]

Gray-legged Tinamou Crypturellus duidae

Native to South America, including Columbia, Peru, Ecuador, Guyana, Venezuela, and northern Brazil. The call of the grey-legged tinamou is described as a short hollow sounding two-syllable whistle, with the pneumonic: “whoo-whoooooooo” with a slight rise near the end. They feed primarily on low hanging or fallen fruit.

Least Concern

image by Gabriel Leite

[alonglistofbirds]

[2926/11080] Darwin's nothura - Nothura darwinii

Order: Tinamiformes (tinamous) Family: Tinamidae

Photo credit: Aldo Grangetto via Macaulay Library

[bestanimal]

Round 3 - Reptilia - Tinamiformes

(Sources - 1, 2, 3, 4)

Our next order of palaeognath birds are the Tinamiformes, commonly called “tinamous”. They are comprised of one living family, Tinamidae, and 46 species among 9 genera.

Tinamous are the only living group of palaeognaths that have retained their ability to fly, though they usually avoid flight in favour of hiding or running away from danger. Although some species are quite common, they are shy and secretive diurnal birds. They generally have cryptic plumage, allowing them to camouflage against the ground and underbrush, and are heard more often than seen, communicating with each other by a variety of frequently given, characteristic calls, especially during the breeding season. Tinamous are opportunistic omnivores, consuming a wide variety of plant and animal food from fruits and seeds to worms, insects and small vertebrates. They range from semi-arid alpine grasslands to tropical rainforests within Mexico, Central America, and South America.

Male and female tinamous are similar in appearance, though the females are usually larger. With some exceptions, a male tinamou maintains a territory and a nesting site during the breeding season which a succession of females will visit, laying their eggs in the same nest. The male will advertise to females with calls and a courtship dance, encouraging them to mate with him and lay their eggs in his nest. Females will wander through several territories mating with and laying eggs in the nests of the resident males. Nests are always on the ground, concealed in vegetation or among rocks. Tinamous are known for their large, glossy, often brightly colored eggs. Egg color varies between species, ranging through green, purple, violet, turquoise, white, steel grey, chocolate, and lemon-yellow. The eggs are incubated by the males for a period of two to three weeks. The young are precocial, and can run almost as soon as they hatch. Soon after hatching the eggs, the male will leave the nest and call the chicks to him with a soft contact call. If threatened, he will freeze and attempt to hide the chicks under his wings or belly. Young chicks can feed themselves within the first few days, but the male will bring the food and drop it on the ground in front of them. Within a few days they are chasing insects on their own and, at 1–3 weeks, they can fly to branches a metre from the ground. They are self-sufficient within 20 days.

Tinamous have been around since the Early Miocene, though the clade Dinocrypturi (comprising the tinamous and the extinct moas), evolved in the Paleocene.

(source)

Do you have a favorite in Tinamiformes?

One or more of my favorite animals is in Tinamiformes

I love at least one or more of these animals

I like at least one or more of these animals

I am neutral about all of these animals

I dislike all of these animals

Voting ended onApr 8, 2025

Propaganda under the cut:

Tinamous are the closest living relatives of the extinct, flightless moas (order Dinornithiformes). While some moas were the size of a turkey, the two largest species, Dinornis robustus and Dinornis novaezelandiae, reached about 3.6 metres (12 ft) in height with neck outstretched, and weighed about 230 kilograms (510 lb).

The Tinamiformes are one of the least studied orders of birds despite tinamous exhibiting rare and little understood behavioral patterns. They have male parental care which is not always associated with polyandry or sex-role reversal. Methodological difficulties have hampered behavioral research, especially on the forest dwelling species, because their secretive behavior and cryptic coloration make them difficult to follow for continuous observation.

There have been documented cases of female tinamous caring for young. It is thought that this occurs when the male has been killed.

A tinamou egg is the only specimen left from Charles Darwin's collections during his HMS Beagle voyage. The egg has a large crack because Darwin put it in a box too small for it.

The Great Tinamou (Tinamus major) (image 4) has the highest percentage of skeletal muscle devoted to locomotion among all birds, taking up 56.9% of its total body weight. At the same time, its heart is the smallest of all birds, by relative comparison (0.19%).

The Red-winged Tinamou (Rhynchotus rufescens) (image 2) has been successfully reintroduced to the state of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, where its wild population was hunted to extermination at the turn of the 20th century.

No tinamou species have been successfully domesticated, though they are sometimes farmed in captivity for their brightly colored eggs, and to boost numbers for hunting, as they are popular game birds. There are ongoing attempts to domesticate the Small-Billed Tinamou (Crypturellus parvirostris), as the birds can raise three to four broods per year and are resistant to diseases that affect Domestic Chickens (Gallus gallus domesticus).

While some tinamous can be regarded as farm pests as they eat and dig up crops, Spotted Nothuras (Nothura maculosa) are beneficial to farmers, as they eat weeds and many pest species. Of the 28 animals Spotted Nothuras have been recorded eating, 26 were considered to be pests.

I just think it’s great that tinamou dads try to collect as many children as possible, while tinamou moms get to run off into the forest to party.

[saritawolf]

Elegant Crested Tinamou (Eudromia elegans) - (c) SaritaWolf - please do not repost