The tinamous of the genus Crypturellus are usually notoriously difficult to see. Most species of this family are polygamous, with the smaller males performing the domestic tasks and the eggs are beautifully coloured. Tinamous exhibit exclusive male parental care. This type of care is rarely found in birds and only in tinamous is present in all species of the order. In polygynandrous species, males accumulate eggs from several females in at least two different ways: in some species females form stable groups and cooperate to lay the clutch for a male, sometimes even laying replacement clutches together. In other species, multiple females lay eggs in a nest, but they
do not form associations or travel together before or after being attracted by the male.
Physical charateristics
The Grey-legged Tinamou is approximately 30 cm in length. It is dark brown above with finely barred black on its lower back, it is rufous below, has tinged grey on its upper breast, the sides of its belly are banded buff, its head and neck are rufous, its throat white, and its legs are greyish. The female is darker on her lower back with narrow light buff barring
Copyright remark: Most sounds derived from xeno-canto
wingspan min.:
0
cm
wingspan max.:
0
cm
size min.:
28
cm
size max.:
32
cm
incubation min.:
0
days
incubation max.:
0
days
fledging min.:
0
days
fledging max.:
0
days
broods:
0
eggs min.:
0
eggs max.:
0
Range
South America : Venezuela, Colombia. This species is native to Macarena mountains and Orinoco-Negro white-sand forest, located at north-east Peru, north-west Brazil, southern Meta in Colombia and from Cano Cuao and Sanariapo to Cerro Duida in southern Venezuela
Habitat
The Grey-legged Tinamou is commonly found in lowlands of dry shrubland in subtropical and tropical regions up to 500 m altitude. It may also be found in moist forest habitats.
Reproduction
No data
Feeding habits
No data
Conservation
This species has a very large range, and hence does not approach the thresholds for Vulnerable under the range size criterion (Extent of Occurrence <20,000 km2 combined with a declining or fluctuating range size, habitat extent/quality, or population size and a small number of locations or severe fragmentation). Despite the fact that the population trend appears to be decreasing, the decline is not believed to be sufficiently rapid to approach the thresholds for Vulnerable under the population trend criterion (>30% decline over ten years or three generations). The population size has not been quantified, but it is not believed to approach the thresholds for Vulnerable under the population size criterion (<10,000 mature individuals with a continuing decline estimated to be >10% in ten years or three generations, or with a specified population structure). For these reasons the species is evaluated as Least Concern.
