Crypturellus variegatus
Silhouette: J. N. Wiegers · PhyloPic
In 3 days ~10% in a week ~30%
The variegated tinamou (Crypturellus variegatus) is a type of tinamou commonly found in moist forest lowlands in subtropical and tropical regions of northern South America. The variegated tinamou was formally described in 1789 by the German naturalist Johann Friedrich Gmelin in his revised and expanded edition of Carl Linnaeus's Systema Naturae. He placed it with all the other quail like birds in the genus Tetrao and coined the binomial name Tetrao variegatus. Gmelin based his description on the Le Tinamou varié that had been described in 1778 by the French polymath Georges-Louis Leclerc, Comte de Buffon and also illustrated in a separate publication. The variegated tinamou is now placed with around twenty other tinamou in the genus Crypturellus that was introduced in 1914 by the British ornithologists Baron Brabourne and Charles Chubb. The genus name combines the Ancient Greek κρυπτός (kruptós) meaning "hidden" with οὐρά (oura) meaning "tail". The -ellus is a diminutive so that the name means "small hidden tail". The specific epithet variegatus is Latin meaning "variegated". The cinereous tinamou is monotypic: no subspecies are recognised.
All tinamou are from the family... Wikipedia →
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Brownsberg Nature Park | 🇸🇷 Suriname | |
| 2 | Amacayacu National Natural Park | 🇨🇴 Colombia | |
| 3 | Anavilhanas National Park | 🇧🇷 Brazil | |
| 4 | Yasuní National Park | 🇪🇨 Ecuador | |
| 5 | Tambopata National Reserve | 🇵🇪 Peru | |
| 6 | Manu National Park | 🇵🇪 Peru |
Rare
Under 5% of wildlife watchers report a Variegated Tinamou sighting in Yasuní National Park on a given day, based on 134 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 277th most-seen of the 533 birds we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 10%, and over a week to about 30%, if each day is a fresh chance.
March–April and August
In those months about 10% of wildlife watchers report a Variegated Tinamou in Yasuní National Park on a given day, against under 5% in May–July and September–February, the lowest months.
Between 3 and 6 pm
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Variegated Tinamou sightings with a recorded time, and about 7 in 10 of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is seen both by day and at night.
4th of 6
Of the 6 parks where we can rate Variegated Tinamou sightings, Yasuní National Park ranks 4th at under 5%. The best odds are in Brownsberg Nature Park (Suriname, about 20%), Amacayacu National Natural Park (Colombia, about 10%) and Anavilhanas National Park (Brazil, about 10%).
Same genus: Crypturellus
The closest relatives of the Variegated Tinamou that you can see in Yasuní National Park (genus Crypturellus, Crypturellus Tinamous) are Undulated Tinamou (about 20%) and Cinereous Tinamou (about 20%), with each one's daily chance of a sighting.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Variegated Tinamou is recorded against all the birds logged in Yasuní National Park (134 verified sightings from 2019 to 2026), calibrated against known sighting rates. Figures are rounded to the nearest 10% because citizen-science data supports honest approximations, not decimals, and months with records from fewer than five people show "—". How it works.
