Slaty-breasted Tinamou

About the Slaty-breasted Tinamou

The slaty-breasted tinamou or Boucard's tinamou (Crypturellus boucardi) is a type of tinamou commonly found in lowland moist forests of Mexico and Central America. All tinamou are from the family Tinamidae, and in the larger scheme are also ratites. Unlike other ratites, tinamous can fly, although in general, they are not strong fliers. All ratites evolved from prehistoric flying birds, and tinamous are the closest living relative of these birds.

The slaty-breasted tinamou has two sub-species: C. b. boucardi (the nominate subspecies) ranges along the lowlands of the Gulf of Mexico and Caribbean coast in southeastern Mexico, Belize, Guatemala, and northwestern Honduras

C. b. costaricensis ranges on the Caribbean slope in Honduras, Nicaragua, and northern Costa Rica Philip Sclater identified the slaty-breasted tinamou from a specimen from Oaxaca, Mexico, in 1859. Crypturellus can be broken down into the following: kruptos meaning covered or hidden, oura meaning the tail and ellus meaning diminutive. Therefore, Crypturellus means the small covered tail. Finally, boucardi is the Latin form of Boucard to commemorate Adolphe Boucard. Wikipedia →