Overview
It has a black crown, rufous primaries, and light gray to brown underneath. It may have black bars on flanks, abdomen and vent.[4] Also, the throat is whitish, the foreneck and breast are cinnamon. The curved bill is horn-coloured with a blackish culmen. Juveniles are duller.
Taxonomy
- Kingdom
- Animalia
- Phylum
- Chordata
- Class
- Bird
- Family
- Tinamidae
- Genus
- Rhynchotus
- Species
- rufescens
Habitat
At lower elevations (1,000 m (3,300 ft)), it favours marshy grasslands (seasonally flooded) and forest edges. While, at higher elevations, up to 2,500 m (8,200 ft), it will frequent arid shrubland, pastures, and grain fields. Overall it prefers dry savanna.
Diet
It's diet varies by season; it taking insects and other small animals (even small mammals) in the summer, and switching to vegetable matter, such as fruits, shoots, tubers and bulbs, in the winter. It can be an agricultural pest, feeding on cereals, rice and peanuts, as well as being predatory, taking poisonous snakes and even jumping up into the air to snatch an insect off a leaf.
Behavior
The red-winged tinamou have vocal males that are a longs ringing single whistle followed by shorter sad whistles. The female does not call. This species is most active during the hottest parts of the day.
Hunting
Hunted in heavy cover, typically with pointing dogs. Birds are flushed and taken with shotguns. A 20ga with 6 shot will be sufficient.
Conservation Status
Listed as Least Concern by IUCN.