Courtship behavior of a secretive forest tinamou, <i>Tinamus major</i> (Great Tinamou)

Abstract The mating systems of many rainforest birds remain poorly understood, especially those that elude observation in dense forest understories. Here we documented mating behaviors in a pair of Tinamus major (Great Tinamou), a secretive species with a wide distribution across the lowland Central and South American tropics. Despite anecdotal preconceptions that males court females, we observed predominant courtship displays from the putative female tinamou. In this mating ritual recorded in the birds’ natural habitat, only the putative female vocalized in the form of clucking and soft-rolling songs, and courted the putative male with a suite of courtship displays, such as neck-elongation, tail-raising, crouching, and feather-fluffing. In contrast, the putative male watched while standing still, approached, tail-raised, walked away, and mounted the putative female a few times. The clucking song of the putative female had not been described previously but we repeatedly observed this song type immediately before the soft-rolling songs during the courtship interaction. Clucking was of lower frequency and around 10 times shorter than the soft-rolling songs. The clucking and soft-rolling songs sung by the putative female were of lower frequency than the common morning territorial songs recorded in the vicinity. This behavioral auditory analysis of the secretive mating ritual of a rainforest tinamou reveals a previously underappreciated female role in their courtship displays.