Great Tinamou

It is a bit blurry, but meet one of the seldom seen, but often heard birds: the Great Tinamou.

All these pictures are actually stills taken from the trophy cam video's. The Great Tinamou (Tinamus major) is one of those forest birds that you will hear more often than will actually see with your own eyes. 

The Great Tinamou is a ground dwelling forest bird with a small head and a rufous brown crest on top. Even though they are poor flyers, it is still difficult to spot these birds very easily. And there are lots of reasons why it is so:
- it is a forest bird of dense undisturbed primary forest
- a shy and secretive bird that rather walks away quietly than make sudden loud noises to shift all the attention towards itself
- its plumage blends perfectly well with its surroundings
- it is a solitary and shy bird

These all makes it very difficult to spot them, let alone observe them. That is why the trophy cams come in handy as these 'observers' are no treat towards the wild. 

The Great Tinamou seeks between all the leaf litter for seeds or insects and enjoy the berries on low growing branches. 

Great Tinamous lay their eggs on the ground right next at the base of a large tree. Interesting to know is that the male is solely responsible for incubating the eggs and taking care of the young. More than one female will lay her eggs on the spot and the male takes care of the rest. I have seen several Tinamou nests near Kabalebo and as you can see, those are quite a lot of eggs for one lady. 

Of course it will be interesting to know the outcome of the nesting but with the help of the trophy cams we will know quite soon too.

To see the complete video, please check youtube or this site. Enjoy!

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