Diet and Foraging

Slaty-breasted Tinamou primarily feeds on fruit and seeds that have fallen to the ground. Crop and gizzard contents at one site in Belize (n = 10) included fruits or seeds of the following plants (plus seeds of seven additional unidentified plants): Acacia acantlensis, Acacia gentlei, Aspidosperma megalocarpon, Brosimum alicastrum, Cryosophila argentea, Dracaena americana, Drypetes brownii, Forchhammeria trifoliata, Manilkara zapotilla, Maytensis sp., Pouteria durlandii, Protium copal, Pseudolmedia spuria, Rinorea guatemalensis, Sabal mayarum, Spondias sp., Swietenia macrophylla and Trophis racemosa, as well as seeds from an additional seven, unidentifed species (Lancaster 1964a).

Dominant foods include Protium cogal (which was found in all but two of the samples), Pseudolmedia spuria and Brosimum alicastrum. The seeds of two species, Swietenia macrophylla and Aspidosperma megalocarpon, have large wings that need to be broken off before the seeds can be swallowed (Lancaster 1964a).

Slaty-breasted Tinamou also consumes some animal matter, including parasol ants (Atta), army ants (Eciton burchelli or Labidus praedator, which were consumed by an incubating male as the ants passed over the nest), termites (Armitermes intermedius), a caterpillar, and beetles (Lancaster 1964a). Lancaster (1964a) also observed a tinamou chasing (but not catching) a lizard, and one that killed a tree frog, which it then shook vigorously and beat it against the ground (Lancaster 1964a).