Tinamou
Ecology

Behavioral and ecological separation of tinamou species is evident where their ranges overlap through the utilization of different food sources and occupation of limited micro-habitats. These micro-habitats are not always easy to identify, and are highly vulnerable to environmental changes. Some species, such as the red-winged tinamou, utilize multiple habitats such as the open savannas of Amazonia and the dry valleys of the Andes. Similarly, brown tinamous occur in both the Amazon basin and the humid montane forests on the Andean slope.

Panama provides examples of ecological separation. The highland tinamou occupies the highlands throughout the country. The great tinamou prefers the rainforests on the slopes. The Choco tinamou also likes the rainforest, but is limited to the south-east of the country. Finally, the little tinamou is found in dense secondary forest on either the Pacific or Atlantic slope above 1,000 m (3,300 ft). Size difference allows the red-winged tinamou and the spotted nothura to coexist, as they both occupy the same habitat of Brazil, the tropical savanna. The former prefers long grass pastures, while the latter prefers short grass.

Further examples of such diversity are found in the Andes, where a small subspecies of Darwin's nothura, Nothura darwinii boliviana, occurs in grassland at about 2,000 m (6,600 ft) above sea level. Here also are the red-winged tinamou which prefers open ground with some scrub, and the Andean tinamou which prefers dense vegetation beside streams. Their habitat extends upslope through the Polylepis woodlands into puna grassland. In the puna is another subspecies of Darwin's nothura, Nothura darwinii agassizii, which prefers tussock grassland. Also in the puna is the ornate tinamou which frequents the rocky slopes and cliffs of tola heath. Higher in the puna is the puna tinamou, living just below the snowline at 5,300 m (17,400 ft) as well as in the semi-deserts of the southern Altiplano.
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