The Choco Tinamou Crypturellus kerriae is a type of Tinamou found in lowlands of moist and montane forest in subtropical and tropical regions up to 1,500 m altitude. This species is recorded to be found in steep coastal forest in north-western Colombia and ridge-top forest at 1,400-1,500 m in eastern Panama. The status of Choco Tinamou is considered as Vulnerable because it is known from only a few locations within its small range where habitat is gradually disappearing.
Characteristics
The Choco Tinamou is approximately 26 cm in length. It is a small, plain dark tinamou. Its upperparts are dark brown, with blackish crown, slate-grey sides of neck, whitish throat and indistinct dusky barring. Its legs are red. The females are darker with coarser barring on wing-coverts and breast, and grey flanks. It has a low, faint, mournful, three-note whistle voice.
Threats
The Choco Tinamou is currently threatened by the vast destruction of its habitats caused by road construction, human settlement, timber extraction and mining. The completion of a new road-bridge has made unprotected areas of coastal plain forest adjacent to Ensenada de Utría National Park accessible to settlement and further threatens its habitats. The population at Atrato valley, Colombia, would probably be the most threatened caused by human settlement, and conversion to farmland and banana plantations. It is presumably hunted wherever humans are present. The completion of the Pan-American highway through Darién and the canalisation of the Truandó and lower Atrato rivers, to make an inter-oceanic fairway, are currently on hold, but could have serious effects on the species if it is to be completed.
Conservation measures
The Choco Tinamou is currently protected in Darién National Park, Panama, and Ensenada de Utría National Park, Colombia. Los Katíos National Park, Colombia, also protects 720 km² of apparently suitable habitat in the Chocó region, but the species has yet to be recorded in the reserve. It was proposed to survey areas and study the ecology to provide an improved understanding of its status and distribution.
