Order
Tinamiformes
Family
Tinamidae
Genus
Nothoprocta
 
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Version 1.0

This is a historic version of this account.  Current version

SPECIES

Chilean Tinamou Nothoprocta perdicaria

Vitor Gomes and Alvaro Jaramillo
Version: 1.0 — Published February 28, 2014

Appearance

Distinguishing Characteristics

Tinamous are stocky terrestrial birds with very short tails and rounded wings; they superficially resemble tail-less quail. Chilean Tinamou is a medium sized tinamou with a horn colored, slightly curved bill, and elongated crown feathers that often are raised as a bushy crest. The upperparts are brown, with a streaked appearance. The sides of the head are buffy, with a dark streak behind the eye and a dusky lateral throat stipe. The breast is gray, and the belly and flanks are buff. The sexes are similar.

Similar Species

Chilean Tinamou does not overlap with other species of tinamou. California Quail (Callipepla californica) is not native to South America, but has a large introduced population in Chile, and overlaps broadly with Chilean Tinamou. The quail is distinctly gray (not brown) above, with many white streaks on the flanks, a longer tail, and a very short stubby bill.

Detailed Description

The following description is based on Blake (1977) and refers to nominate perdicaria; see also Geographic Variation:

Adult: Crown barred black and brown. Upperparts generally grayish brown or olive brown, narrowly streaked with white or tawny buff. The feathers of the back and scapulars are broadly edged with grayish brown or olive brown, the centers darker brown and patterned with black vermiculations and bars. Uppertail coverts barred, not striped, with black and white or buff. Remiges dusky brown; primaries spotted with white on outer webs, secondaries cinnamon rufous barred brown on outer webs. Sides of head buffy, with a dark streak behind the eye and a dusky lateral throat stipe. Throat white, sometimes lightly mottled. Lower foreneck and breast gray, becoming buff on lower breast, belly, and undertail coverts.

Immature: Similar to adult, but breast browner, less gray, and with concentric black spots; color of lower underparts deeper.

Downy chick: Chicks of Nothoprocta, in general, have a streaked pattern. Downy chicks of Chilean Tinamous also has a slighly barred appearance on the upperparts, however, as the dark feathers have buffy bases as well as buffy tips (Jehl 1971). These chicks also have a well defined head pattern, similar to that of the adult (Jehl 1971).

Molts

Undescribed.

Bare Parts

Iris: brown

Bill: maxilla black, mandible gray

Tarsi and toes: pale yellowish

Bare parts color data from Blake (1977).

Measurements

Total length: 29 cm (Jaramillo 2003), 30 cm (Fjeldså and Krabbe 1990)

Linear measurements (from Blake 1977):

perdicaria, male (n = 6)

wing length (flat): mean 167.8 mm (range 161-174 mm)

bill length (exposed culmen): mean 22.4 mm (range 21-24 mm)

perdicaria, female (n = 9)

wing length (flat): mean 165.5 mm (range 160-174 mm)

bill length (exposed culmen): mean 22.5 mm (range 21-25 mm)

sanborni, male (n = 4)

wing length (flat): mean 173 mm (range 167-187 mm)

bill length (exposed culmen): mean 23.5 mm (range 23-25 mm)

sandorni, female (n = 6)

wing length (flat): mean 170.2 mm (range 166-179 mm)

bill length (exposed culmen): mean 22.6 mm (range 21-24 mm)

Mass: mean 458 ± 8 g (n = 4, sexes undetermined, birds in captivity; Withers et al. 1987)

Recommended Citation

Gomes, V. and A. Jaramillo (2014). Chilean Tinamou (Nothoprocta perdicaria), version 1.0. In Neotropical Birds Online (T. S. Schulenberg, Editor). Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Ithaca, NY, USA. https://doi.org/10.2173/nb.chitin1.01