Great Tinamou

Tinamus major

eBird describes the Great Tinamou like this:  Large, almost tailless game bird that lives on the ground in humid tropical lowlands. Hunted for food and thus has been wiped out from many areas. Rarely seen, but haunting two-parted whistled song can be heard, especially early and late in the day and even at night. Sometimes flushes explosively from close range, crashing off through the forest understory. Plumage rather plain overall, warm brown above and grayish below, with grayish (not reddish) legs.

The Birds of the World website introduces the Great Tinamou with this descriptive information:  Great Tinamou is a large tinamou of lowland forest from southern Mexico south through the Amazon basin. Like other tinamous, this species is usually detected by voice. Its quavering and mournful, yet powerful, song is given mostly at dawn and dusk and can carry some distance through the forest. Birds forage by walking quietly along the ground. When startled, they explode into the air and crash off through the forest, resembling “cannonballs with heads and wings”. Individuals roost at night on a branch or vine above the ground, resting their weight on pads on the upper portion of the tarsi. The large size and powerful, quavering song of the Great Tinamou distinguish it from most sympatric lowland tinamous.

I met my first Great Tinamou while walking a trail at Carara National Park in Costa Rica on the morning of February 10, 2023.  The light was not great and my look was very brief, so my photos are not great, but good enough for identification purposes.