Hooded Tinamou Nothocercus nigrocapillus

Hooded Tinamou is poorly known but apparently is fairly common. Hooded Tinamou is distributed along the east slope of the Andes from northern Peru to central Bolivia, where it inhabits humid forests in subtropical to temperate regions, at approximately 1300-3200 m. It apparently prefers wetter areas with comparatively little undergrowth, and perhaps bamboo patches, but very little is understood concerning the ecology of Hooded Tinamou. Similarly the breeding biology of this specie is completely unknown, although it is plausible that its nesting is correlated with bamboo seeding events. Our only information on diet is that the species has been seen taking bamboo seeds. Hooded Tinamou is paler overall than Highland Tinamou (Nothocercus bonapartei) and the head is largely plumbeous gray instead of black, while the rare Tawny-breasted Tinamou (Nothocercus julius) is larger with a reddish head, and typically occurs at higher elevations. Two subspecies of Hooded Tinamou are recognized, with the northern subspecies being redder overall redder over the body and wings, but the chronic lack of specimen material means that the relatively small described differences between these are difficult to evaluate confidently.