The Patagonian tinamou also known as Ingouf's tinamou is a member of one of the most ancient groups of paleognath birds, the tinamous. This species is native to southern South America.
Region
Patagonia
Typical Environment
Occurs across the Patagonian steppe and shrublands of southern Argentina and adjacent Chile. It favors open, semi-arid plains with bunchgrasses and low shrubs, as well as gravelly plateaus and gently rolling foothills. Dense forest is avoided, but it uses patches of cover for roosting and nesting. Locally common where grazing pressure and disturbance are moderate.
Altitude Range
Sea level to 1500 m
Climate Zone
Arid
Ease of Keeping
Beginner friendly: 2/5
The Patagonian tinamou, or Ingouf's tinamou, is a ground-dwelling paleognath native to the windswept steppes of Patagonia. Like other tinamous, males incubate and rear the chicks from eggs laid by multiple females. It relies on cryptic plumage and running to avoid danger, taking to the air only in short, explosive flights.
Temperament
wary and secretive
Flight Pattern
short rapid wingbeats with explosive flush; prefers running
Social Behavior
Usually encountered singly or in small coveys, especially outside the breeding season. Nests are shallow ground scrapes concealed under grasses or shrubs. Males incubate clutches composed of eggs from several females and lead the downy chicks soon after hatching.
Migratory Pattern
Resident
Song Description
Gives low, far-carrying, flute-like whistles, often at dawn and dusk. Calls are simple and resonant, used to maintain contact and advertise territory across open landscapes.
Plumage
Heavily mottled and vermiculated brown and grey upperparts with dark barring; paler, buffy underparts with rufous wash on flanks. Throat often whitish with a faint pale supercilium; overall cryptic, sandy tones that blend into steppe habitat.
Diet
Takes seeds, green shoots, and buds from native grasses and shrubs, supplemented with berries when available. Also consumes insects and other small invertebrates, especially in the breeding season. Forages mostly by walking and pecking, occasionally scratching lightly in loose soil or leaf litter.
Preferred Environment
Feeds on open steppe and shrub-steppe with scattered cover, often along edges of low bushes and in grass clumps. Avoids dense woodland but stays near shelter to dash into when threatened.
