Black-legged Seriema

Identification

The black-legged seriema is a large bird, measuring some 70–85 cm (28–33 in) in length, and weighing roughly 1.2 kg (2.6 lb). This makes it one of the largest ground-dwelling birds in the Neotropics; only the red-legged seriema and the rheas are larger. It is long-necked and long-tailed, with very long, slender legs and short, rounded wings. Overall, it is ash-grey in colour, though closer examination shows that the "grey" body feathers are actually finely vermiculated with black and white. It has an inconspicuous frontal crest, composed of erect, hairlike bristles. It has whitish supercilia and lores, and the feathers on its crown and nape are barred in black and white. Its belly is paler grey, and its lower abdomen, crissum and thighs are yellowish-white. The flight feathers on the wings are thickly barred with black and white, and its grey tail is barred and narrowly tipped with black. Its feathers are loosely webbed, giving the bird a "soft" appearance. Those on its nape are particularly long, forming an inconspicuous crest. Its stout black bill has a strongly decurved culmen and a small hook at the tip. Its iris is reddish-brown, and its legs are dark-grey to black. Its feet have three short front toes with very sharp claws, and one small elevated hind toe. The sexes look alike, and youngsters are similar, though somewhat more patterned. The latters' heads, necks and breasts are barred, and their backs and upperwing coverts are speckled with white.<p>Its call notes are a series of yelps and barks, said to sound like a turkey, a kookabura or a small dog. Pairs call in tandem, with the duet said to be loud, slow and evenly-pitched, but somewhat harsh and unmusical.<p>The only species that the black-legged seriema could conceivably be confused with is the red-legged seriema. Though similar in general appearance, the black-legged seriema is smaller, and lacks the distinctive frontal crest of its red-legged cousin. It has a black bill and dark legs, rather than a red bill and red legs, and a dark eye rather than a pale one. Although the two overlap locally in their ranges, they tend to live in different habitats.

Taxonomy

German ornithologist Gustav Hartlaub first described the black-legged seriema for science in 1860, using information passed to him by Hermann Burmeister, another German zoologist who was living and working in South America at the time. Hartlaub named it Dicholophus burmeisteri. Both Hartlaub and Burmeister suggested that Chunga be established as a subgenus of Dicholophus, the genus which already contained the red-legged seriema, based on small differences between the species. However, it was quickly elevated to the status of a full genus. The black-legged seriema, which has no subspecies, is the only extant species in the genus. The other member of the genus, Chunga incerta, lived in the mid to late Pliocene. The black-legged seriema and its close relative the red-legged seriema are the only two living members of the small family Cariamidae.<p>The genus name Chunga comes directly from the name given to the black-legged seriema by Spanish residents of Argentina. The species name burmeisteri honors Hermann Burmeister, who had provided Hartlaub with information about the bird. "Seriema" is a Latinized word, invented in the mid-19th century and taken directly from the Tupi word siriema, which means "crested".

Scientific name

Chunga burmeisteri

Authority

(Hartlaub, 1860)

Order

Cariamiformes

Family

Cariamidae

Genus

Chunga

Range and habitat

Found from southeastern Bolivia and northern Paraguay south into north-central Argentina, the black-legged seriema is a dry-country bird of savanna, shrubland and dry, open forest, including the Dry Chaco and the Monte Desert. Perhaps surprisingly, the species was not known from Bolivia until the late 1970s. It is generally found at elevations below 800 m (2,600 ft), lower than the elevations at which the red-legged seriema is typically found. Though it will forage in untreed areas, including cultivated fields and grassy plains, it only does so when there are wooded areas nearby.

Migration

Resident species

Behavior

Migration pattern: Resident species.

Conservation

Population trend: stable.

Population trend

stable