Order
Tinamiformes
Family
Tinamidae
Genus
Nothoprocta
 
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Version 1.0

This is a historic version of this account.  Current version

SPECIES

Brushland Tinamou Nothoprocta cinerascens

John Zeiger
Version: 1.0 — Published November 27, 2013

Breeding

Introduction

The nest of Brushland Tinamou is a scrape, which is dug by the male. Very few active nests have been described, but Lancaster identified one during his study of the Brushland Tinamou’s biology. He encountered the nest in an open area with some scattered trees and shrubs. The scrape was hidden by the surrounding vegetation and covered in dried grass (Lancaster 1964).

The eggs have an elliptical shape and a dusky brown color with a purplish tint. As with other species of tinamous, the eggs have a shiny glazed appearance.  Egg dimensions are 45-50 mm x 37-38 mm, with mean dimensions of 47.5 mm x 37.6 mm (n = 8, from a single clutch; Lancaster 1964).

Nests tend to have between 7 and 10 eggs, and more than one female may contribute eggs to a single nest (Lancaster 1964).

The male is responsible for incubation. He rotate the eggs during the day. He can usually only cover about 8 eggs, so some eggs will be placed on top of others if there are more than 8 eggs in the nest (Lancaster 1964).

The male is responsible for all parental care.  Incubation lasts 19-20 days. Chicks are very precocial, and will follow the male, who leads them with a soft whining call, soon after hatching. If they are disturbed, the male distracts a potential predator by flying at it and then running around and feigning a broken wing, giving the chicks time to escape and hide (Lancaster 1964).

Recommended Citation

Zeiger, J. (2013). Brushland Tinamou (Nothoprocta cinerascens), version 1.0. In Neotropical Birds Online (T. S. Schulenberg, Editor). Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Ithaca, NY, USA. https://doi.org/10.2173/nb.brutin1.01