| Red-legged Seriema | |
|---|---|
| Near Avaré in southeastern Brazil | |
| Conservation status | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Aves |
| Superorder: | Neoaves |
| Order: | Cariamiformes |
| Family: | Cariamidae |
| Genus: | Cariama Brisson, 1760 |
| Species: | C. cristata |
| Binomial name | |
| Cariama cristata (Linnaeus, 1766) |
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| Synonyms | |
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The Red-legged Seriema or Crested Cariama (Cariama cristata) is a mostly predatory terrestrial bird in the seriema family (Cariamidae), included in the "Gruiformes" in the old paraphyletic circumscription, but increasingly placed in a distinct order Cariamiformes (along with three extinct families). The Red-legged Seriema inhabits grasslands from Brazil south of the Amazon to Uruguay and northern Argentina. The area over which it occurs is estimated at 5.9 million km², though the bird is not found everywhere in this region of course. The species is absent from the Mata Atlântica and planalto uplands along the coast of Brazil.[1]
It is 75 to 90 cm (30 to 36 in) long and weighs about 1.5 kg, with a fairly long neck, tail, and legs. The plumage is medium brown above with black markings; pale brown on the head, neck, and breast; and white on the belly. The tail has a black band near the tip and a white tip. The beak and legs are red, and the eyes are yellow. Soft feathers emerge from the base of the bill to form a fan-shaped crest.[2]
Many other characteristics are shared with the Black-legged Seriema (Chunga burmeisteri), the only other living member of its family. Some of these traits are discussed in the Cariamidae article.
The song has a quality described as "a cross between 'the serrated bark of a young dog and the clucking of turkeys'".[3] At the loudest part of the song, the bird has its neck bent so its head is touching its back. Both members of a pair as well as young down to the age of two weeks sing; often one member of a family starts a song just as another finishes, or two sing simultaneously. The song can be heard several kilometres away; in Emas National Park, Brazil, in 1981–1982, observers often heard four Red-legged Seriemas or groups singing at once.[4]
The full song consists of three sections:
The Red-legged Seriema prefers grassland habitat to any other. Though it likes to inhabit lush meadows near rivers, it will not readily move into wetlands or crop fields.[5] It is usually seen singly or in pairs, but sometimes in groups up to four, apparently families. It typically walks on the ground and can easily run faster than a human in its habitat. It will flee a car on foot at speeds up to 25 km/h (15 mi/hr) before flying.[4]
In one conflict between two birds, they jumped at each other feet-first, keeping their balance by flapping.[4]
This species nests on the ground[2] or in a bush or tree up to 3 m above the ground. In the latter case adults jump into the nest rather than fly.[4]
