Black Tinamou (Tinamus osgoodi)

Identification & Behavior: ~43 cm (17 in). The Black Tinamou is sooty gray without barring or vermiculation. It looks black in the poorly lit forest floor. The legs are light gray. It resembles the Hooded Tinamou, with which it may have limited range overlap.  Black Tinamou is uniformly sooty gray versus a brown and dusky Hooded Tinamou. Also, see the smaller Brown Tinamou.

Status: The Black Tinamou is restricted to a narrow altitudinal band in the Andean foothills of extreme southeast Peru. It is known at elevations ranging from 900 to 1650 m where is uncommon to rare. It also occurs in Co and Ec.

Name in Spanish: Perdiz Negra.

Sub-species: Black Tinamou (Tinamus osgoodi osgoodi) Conover, 1949

Meaning of Name: Tinamus: Tinamu (Galibi) Cayenne Language. Native name for this type of bird. osgoodi: After Wilfred Hudson Osgood, American Zoologist, collector, and author of the Mammals of Chile, 1923.

See more of the Family Tinamidae