Elegant Crested Tinamou

     The Elegant Crested Tinamou or the Martineta Tinamou is a medium-sized bird  that can be found in southern Chile and Argentina in shrublands. It’s different from almost all other Tinamous in its body pattern, and its narrow long crest.

     The Elegant Crested tinamou is a dark or yellowish brown Partridge-like bird. It has a short tail, short wings, two white stripes on each side of its face, and a long crest with an upward pointed tip. The Elegant Crested tinamou has also many subspecies that are distributed in the different places the bird inhabits.

     The breeding season of the Elegant Crested tinamou usually begins in September and lasts till March. It’a a quite broad span that may allow the rearing of two broods. Per nest, clutch size varies from 5 – 16 eggs; and nests with more than 6 eggs per each may contain eggs from two or more females. Only the male Crested tinamou incubates the eggs for 20 – 21 days. He also cares for the hatchlings till becoming independent by three to four months of age.