Red-legged Seriema Gallery

Cariama cristata

The Birds of the World website introduces the Red-legged Seriema with this descriptive information:  The Red-legged Seriema is a striking, unmistakable bird of open woodland, thorny scrub and hilly grassland. Its large size, bright red legs and bill, and prominent loose crest make it a visually distinctive species. These birds are capable predators and opportunistic feeders with a varied diet, taking a wide range of foods including arthropods, lizards, snakes, small rodents, eggs, corn and other grans, and wild fruit. One of their most fascinating features is their characteristic method of dealing with vertebrate prey. The prey animal is grabbed in the bill, killed by violent shaking and beating on the substrate, and subsequently torn into pieces and consumed. The species is also well-known for their barking song, which is performed in duets by pairs of birds in the early morning. Breeding times for this species vary by subpopulations; birds in northeast Brazil breed February-July, while those in central Brazil breed November-December. Some populations of Red-legged Seriemas have local movements, but overall the species is sedentary and has no distinct migratory pattern. Red-legged Seriemas are widespread but uncommon throughout their range, and in some places they even are hunted for their meat.

I met my first Red-legged Seriema on the morning of Tuesday, August 22, 2023.  Our Jeff Parker Tour group was headed to Fazenda Santa Tereza for a couple of days of watching birds and wildlife in the Pantanal Region of Brazil.  We were on MT-060 which turns into the Transpantaneira Highway when we spotted this bird near the road.  For details of my Brazilian trip that include the sighting of this bird, look here.  Below are a couple of my photos of this unusual bird.