Variegated Tinamou Crypturellus variegatus Scientific name definitions

Although its numbers are much reduced in at least parts of its range, Variegated Tinamou is still of widespread distribution, from southeast Brazil and in Amazonia, north to the Guianas and southern Venezuela, and east to Peru. It is found in a variety of forest types and occurs to at least 1300 m. Variegated Tinamou is a mid-sized member of its genus, and has heavily barred black and rusty upperparts, and a bright cinnamon-colored neck and breast. The species’ breeding behaviour has been comparatively well studied, although most of our knowledge is based on a study published as long ago as the 1920s. Males apparently outnumber females considerably, and as a result the female is serially polyandrous, mating with up to four males, laying one egg per partner, which is then incubated by the male alone. As is typical of tinamous, the nest is a shallow, unlined depression on the ground. The single young leaves the nest on hatching and is tended by the male throughout.

28–31 cm; male 310–365 g (1 Graves, G. R., and R. L. Zusi (1990). Avian body weights from the lower Rio Xingu, Brazil. Bulletin of the British Ornithologists' Club 110(1): 20–25. Close ), female 354–423 g. Strongly barred tinamou with grey head, cinnamon neck, and long straight bill  . Has head and central nape medium grey to sooty grey, forehead and crown (sometimes also foreface) darker grey to black, often with some ochraceous spotting forming hint of rear supercilium, the spotting more light cinnamon and predominating behind ear-covert patch and on lower face; chin white to creamy yellow, fading to light cinnamon on rear throat and to brighter cinnamon on neck and breast , paler on central breast  and deeper, more chestnut, on rear hindneck; most of mantle to uppertail-coverts dark sepia-brown, strongly and regularly barred  with buffy yellow to cinnamon-buff, the pale bars not thin but narrower than dark areas between; most of upperwing closely similar to back in pattern, the barring tending to be narrower and less dense on outer wing, outer webs of most of secondaries with buffy-orange speckling rather than barring, primaries and their coverts and alula plain dark sepia-brown; underbody, including thighs and undertail-coverts, are strongly barred with dark sepia, buff and whitish, palest on central abdomen; iris dark brown; bill blackish-horn, most of lower mandible paler horn-flesh; legs olive-grey to olive-yellow. Differs from C. bartletti in being longer-billed, larger and brighter, and from C. brevirostris in having grey to black head strongly contrasting with warm neck; differs from both in extensively and more evenly patterned dorsum and upperwing. Sexes alike. Immature is like adult, but with much fainter dorsal barring, chest feathers with subapical white-tipped blackish mark, underparts also indistinctly spotted or barred with white. 

Amazonian Colombia, Venezuela and the Guianas S to Peru and across N Brazil to N Maranhão; also coastal E Brazil (S Bahia, SE Minas Gerais and Espírito Santo).

Forest and thickets of tropical and subtropical zones, at 100–1300 m; rainforest and other forest types, often in clearings.

Presumably sedentary.

Seeds, fruits and insects. Of 50 stomachs of individuals from Belize, only four contained insects, namely beetles (Coleoptera), bugs (Hemiptera) and cockroaches (Blattodea). Forages  solitarily on ground.

Wailing whistle ; also a series of five notes on even pitch, or a longer series of more tremulous higher-pitched notes accelerating in pace. In Guyana a staccato trill, sometimes preceded by a protracted (up to two seconds long), single, sweet note and gap of 3–4 seconds before the trill. Also a melancholy phrase of 4–6 tremulous syllables, the first descending and separated from the rest, which rise in pitch. Some regional variation apparent.

Breeding recorded in Apr in Venezuela, and in Mar–Oct and Dec (perhaps in all months) in Guyana. Polyandrous; female calls to attract male, mates, lays single egg, and then seeks another territory and repeats process; up to four territories and four different males in a season (2 Reis de Magalhães, J.C. (1994). Sobre alguns Tinamídeos florestais brasileiros. Bol. CEO. 10: 16-26. Close ). Nest a shallow depression on ground, unlined. Clutch one egg, colour variable, from brown with pinkish-violet and purplish-brown wash to pale chocolate-brown; incubation by male  , period c. 21 days; chick and male leave nest c. 12–24 hours after egg hatches (3 Davies, S. J. J. F. (2002). Ratites and Tinamous: Tinamidae, Rheidae, Dromaiidae, Casuariidae, Apterygidae, Struthionidae. Oxford University Press, Oxford and New York. Close ).

Not globally threatened (Least Concern). Uncommon to fairly common in terra firme forest throughout Amazonia (4 Ridgely, R. S., and P. J. Greenfield (2001). The Birds of Ecuador. Volumes 1–2. Comstock Publishing Associates, Ithaca, New York, USA. Close , 5 Schulenberg, T. S., D. F. Stotz, D. F. Lane, J. P. O’Neill, and T. A. Parker (2007). Birds of Peru. Princeton University Press, Princeton, NJ, USA. Close , 6 Hilty, S. L. (2003). Birds of Venezuela. Christopher Helm, London, UK. Close ); uncommon in Surinam. Few records from Bolivia. Population of E Brazil has declined appreciably, this probably due mostly to habitat destruction (7 Sick, H. (1993). Birds in Brazil. A Natural History. Princeton University Press, Princeton, NJ, USA. Close ); presumably affected also by forest destruction in Amazonia. Suffers also from hunting.