The Choco tinamou or Chocó tinamou is a type of tinamou found in lowland forest and montane forest in subtropical and tropical regions of Colombia and Panama.
Region
Chocó–Darién (western Colombia and eastern Panama)
Typical Environment
Occupies lowland and foothill evergreen forests, favoring dense understory and leaf-littered floors. It uses both primary and well-structured secondary forests and is most frequent near quiet forest interiors, ravines, and along shaded streams. The species generally avoids open areas and heavily fragmented edges. Occurs locally within protected tracts but is sensitive to disturbance and hunting.
Altitude Range
Sea level to 1600 m
Climate Zone
Tropical
Ease of Keeping
Beginner friendly: 1/5
The Chocó tinamou is a shy ground-dwelling bird of the humid Chocó–Darién forests of Colombia and Panama. Like other tinamous, males incubate clutches that may include eggs from multiple females and then lead the chicks. Its haunting, low-pitched whistles are often the best way to detect it at dawn or dusk. Ongoing deforestation and hunting pressure threaten populations in much of its range.
Temperament
solitary and secretive
Flight Pattern
short rapid wingbeats with brief low flights
Social Behavior
Usually encountered singly or in pairs, moving quietly through dense understory. Nests are simple ground scrapes concealed by vegetation. Males incubate and care for downy chicks that are precocial and mobile soon after hatching. Territorial calling increases during the breeding season.
Migratory Pattern
Resident
Song Description
Gives low-pitched, mournful whistles, often a single clear note or a simple series spaced at intervals. Vocalizations carry far in still, humid air and are most frequent at dawn and dusk.
Plumage
Cryptic, finely mottled and barred brown to olive-brown upperparts with buffy to rufous underparts and subtle darker barring on the flanks. The throat is paler, and the crown and nape are duskier with fine speckling. Feathers are smooth and sleek, aiding camouflage on the forest floor.
Diet
Feeds on fallen fruits and seeds gleaned from the forest floor, supplemented by insects, spiders, and other small invertebrates. Also takes tender shoots and buds when available. It swallows small pebbles to aid in grinding food. By consuming fruits, it can act as a local seed disperser.
Preferred Environment
Forages quietly in leaf litter of mature forest and well-developed secondary growth, often near fruiting trees. Uses shaded trails, gullies, and stream edges where cover is dense. Rarely ventures into open habitats.
