The black-legged seriema (''Chunga burmeisteri'') is one of two living

species In biology, a species is the basic unit of classification and a taxonomic rank of an organism, as well as a unit of biodiversity. A species is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate s ...

of seriemas in the family Cariamidae. It is found from southeastern

Bolivia , image_flag = Bandera de Bolivia (Estado).svg , flag_alt = Horizontal tricolor (red, yellow, and green from top to bottom) with the coat of arms of Bolivia in the center , flag_alt2 = 7 × 7 square p ...

and northern

Paraguay Paraguay (; ), officially the Republic of Paraguay ( es, República del Paraguay, links=no; gn, Tavakuairetã Paraguái, links=si), is a landlocked country in South America. It is bordered by Argentina to the south and southwest, Brazil to th ...

south into north-central

Argentina Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina covers an area of , making it the second-largest country in South America after Brazil, th ...

. It is a large, mostly grey bird with a long neck, a long tail, and long, slender black legs. Its belly, vent and thighs are yellowish-white. The sexes look similar, as do immature birds, though the latter are more patterned on head, neck and back. First described for science by

Gustav Hartlaub Karel Johan Gustav Hartlaub (8 November 1814 – 29 November 1900) was a German physician and ornithologist. Hartlaub was born in Bremen, and studied at Bonn and Berlin before graduating in medicine at Göttingen. In 1840, he began to study and co ...

in 1860, it is

monotypic In biology, a monotypic taxon is a taxonomic group (taxon) that contains only one immediately subordinate taxon. A monotypic species is one that does not include subspecies or smaller, infraspecific taxa. In the case of genera, the term "unispec ...

, with no subspecies. Like its red-legged cousin, it is an

omnivore An omnivore () is an animal that has the ability to eat and survive on both plant and animal matter. Obtaining energy and nutrients from plant and animal matter, omnivores digest carbohydrates, protein, fat, and fiber, and metabolize the nutr ...

. It seldom flies, instead pursuing prey and eluding danger on foot. Its loud calls, said to sound like

kookaburra Kookaburras are terrestrial tree kingfishers of the genus ''Dacelo'' native to Australia and New Guinea, which grow to between in length and weigh around . The name is a loanword from Wiradjuri ''guuguubarra'', onomatopoeic of its call. The ...

turkeys The turkey is a large bird in the genus ''Meleagris'', native to North America. There are two extant turkey species: the wild turkey (''Meleagris gallopavo'') of eastern and central North America and the ocellated turkey (''Meleagris ocellat ...

or yelping dogs, are often given in duet. Little is known about its breeding ecology. It is known to breed in November and December, building a platform nest of sticks and laying two white eggs, which are sometimes marked with a few brownish or purple spots. The

International Union for Conservation of Nature The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN; officially International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources) is an international organization working in the field of nature conservation and sustainable use of natu ...

rates the species as one of

least concern A least-concern species is a species that has been categorized by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) as evaluated as not being a focus of species conservation because the specific species is still plentiful in the wild. T ...

, due to its large range and apparently stable numbers.

Taxonomy

German ornithologist

first described the black-legged seriema for science in 1860, using information passed to him by

Hermann Burmeister Karl Hermann Konrad Burmeister (also known as Carlos Germán Conrado Burmeister) (15 January 1807 – 2 May 1892) was a German Argentine zoologist, entomologist, herpetologist, botany, botanist, and coleopterologist. He served as a professor at ...

, 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 The red-legged seriema (''Cariama cristata''), also known as the crested cariama and crested seriema, is a mostly predatory terrestrial bird in the seriema family ( Cariamidae), included in the Gruiformes in the old paraphyletic circumscription ...

, based on small differences between the species. However, it was quickly elevated to the status of a full

genus Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus com ...

. The black-legged seriema, which has no

subspecies In biological classification, subspecies is a rank below species, used for populations that live in different areas and vary in size, shape, or other physical characteristics (morphology), but that can successfully interbreed. Not all species ...

, is the only extant species in the genus. The other member of the genus, ''

Chunga incerta ''Chunga incerta'' is an extinct species of cariamid bird which inhabited the Pliocene of the central-eastern Southern Cone of South America. It belongs to the genus '' Chunga'', today only represented by one species, '' Chunga burmeisteri.'' ...

'', lived in the mid to late

Pliocene The Pliocene ( ; also Pleiocene) is the epoch in the geologic time scale that extends from 5.333 million to 2.58Cariamidae. 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

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...

ized word, invented in the mid-19th century and taken directly from the

Tupi Tupi may refer to: * Tupi people of Brazil * Tupi or Tupian languages, spoken in South America ** Tupi language, an extinct Tupian language spoken by the Tupi people * Tupi oil field off the coast of Brazil * Tupi Paulista, a Brazilian municipalit ...

word ''siriema'', which means "crested".

Description

The black-legged seriema is a large bird, measuring some in length, and weighing roughly . This makes it one of the largest ground-dwelling birds in the

Neotropics The Neotropical realm is one of the eight biogeographic realms constituting Earth's land surface. Physically, it includes the tropics, tropical Ecoregion#Terrestrial, terrestrial ecoregions of the Americas and the entire South American temperat ...

; 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 Vermiculation is a surface pattern of dense but irregular lines, so called from the Latin ''vermiculus'' meaning "little worm" because the shapes resemble worms, worm-casts, or worm tracks in mud or wet sand. The word may be used in a number of ...

with black and white. It has an inconspicuous frontal crest, composed of erect, hairlike bristles. It has whitish and , and the feathers on its crown and nape are barred in black and white. Its belly is paler grey, and its lower abdomen, and thighs are yellowish-white. The

flight feather Flight feathers (''Pennae volatus'') are the long, stiff, asymmetrically shaped, but symmetrically paired pennaceous feathers on the wings or tail of a bird; those on the wings are called remiges (), singular remex (), while those on the tail ...

s 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 Bill(s) may refer to: Common meanings * Banknote, paper cash (especially in the United States) * Bill (law), a proposed law put before a legislature * Invoice, commercial document issued by a seller to a buyer * Bill, a bird or animal's beak Plac ...

has a strongly decurved and a small hook at the tip. Its

iris Iris most often refers to: *Iris (anatomy), part of the eye *Iris (mythology), a Greek goddess * ''Iris'' (plant), a genus of flowering plants * Iris (color), an ambiguous color term Iris or IRIS may also refer to: Arts and media Fictional ent ...

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 are speckled with white.

Vocalisations

Its call notes are a series of yelps and barks, said to sound like a

turkey Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a list of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolia, Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with ...

, a

kookabura Kookaburras are terrestrial tree kingfishers of the genus ''Dacelo'' native to Australia and New Guinea, which grow to between in length and weigh around . The name is a loanword from Wiradjuri ''guuguubarra'', onomatopoeic of its call. The ...

or a small dog. Pairs call in tandem, with the duet said to be loud, slow and evenly-pitched, but somewhat harsh and unmusical.

Similar species

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.

Distribution 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 A savanna or savannah is a mixed woodland-grassland (i.e. grassy woodland) ecosystem characterised by the trees being sufficiently widely spaced so that the canopy does not close. The open canopy allows sufficient light to reach the ground to ...

shrubland Shrubland, scrubland, scrub, brush, or bush is a plant community characterized by vegetation dominated by shrubs, often also including grasses, herbs, and geophytes. Shrubland may either occur naturally or be the result of human activity. It m ...

and dry, open forest, including the

Dry Chaco The Gran Chaco or Dry Chaco is a sparsely populated, hot and semiarid lowland natural region of the Río de la Plata basin, divided among eastern Bolivia, western Paraguay, northern Argentina, and a portion of the Brazilian states of Mato Gr ...

and the

Monte Desert The Monte Desert is a South American desert, lying entirely within Argentina and covering approximately the submontane areas of Catamarca, La Rioja Province, Argentina, La Rioja, San Juan Province, Argentina, San Juan, San Luis Province, San Luis a ...

. Perhaps surprisingly, the species was not known from Bolivia until the late 1970s. It is generally found at elevations below , 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.

Behaviour

The black-legged seriema spends much of its time on the ground, and flies only reluctantly. It is a fast runner, and typically chases prey and eludes predators on foot. If pressed, it is capable of short flight – rapid flapping, followed by a glide. It sometimes flies up into trees, though it will preferentially jump to lower branches. Although it is primarily a sedentary species, some local movements may occur. In Paraguay, for example, it is known to move out of some areas of the chaco in response to cooler weather.

Food and feeding

Black-legged seriemas are

omnivorous An omnivore () is an animal that has the ability to eat and survive on both plant and animal matter. Obtaining energy and nutrients from plant and animal matter, omnivores digest carbohydrates, protein, fat, and fiber, and metabolize the nutri ...

. Insects, particularly

beetle Beetles are insects that form the order Coleoptera (), in the superorder Endopterygota. Their front pair of wings are hardened into wing-cases, elytra, distinguishing them from most other insects. The Coleoptera, with about 400,000 describ ...

s and

locust Locusts (derived from the Vulgar Latin ''locusta'', meaning grasshopper) are various species of short-horned grasshoppers in the family Acrididae that have a swarming phase. These insects are usually solitary, but under certain circumstanc ...

s, make up a significant portion of their diet, and they take the occasional rodent. They also eat plant material, including leaves, grass and seeds. They often hunt around the feet of livestock, which presumably flush insects as they move.

Breeding

The breeding behaviour of the black-legged seriema is not well-known. It is thought to breed primarily from November into December. It

nests A nest is a structure built for certain animals to hold eggs or young. Although nests are most closely associated with birds, members of all classes of vertebrates and some invertebrates construct nests. They may be composed of organic materi ...

solitarily, with both members of the pair building a platform of sticks in a tree. The female lays two white eggs, which measure x and may have a few brown or pale purple spots.

Relationship with humans

Indigenous peoples Indigenous peoples are culturally distinct ethnic groups whose members are directly descended from the earliest known inhabitants of a particular geographic region and, to some extent, maintain the language and culture of those original people ...

within the black-legged seriema's range hunt seriemas and collect their eggs for food. This has occurred from prehistoric times through as recently as 2003. The

Toba people The Toba people, also known as the Qom people, are one of the largest indigenous groups in Argentina who historically inhabited the region known today as the Pampas of the Central Chaco. During the 16th century, the Qom inhabited a large part of ...

of Argentina make a

poultice A poultice, also called a cataplasm, is a soft moist mass, often heated and medicated, that is spread on cloth and placed over the skin to treat an aching, inflamed, or painful part of the body. It can be used on wounds, such as cuts. 'Poultice' ...

of the bird's manure to treat boils and abscesses.

Conservation status

Because of the black-legged seriema's very large range and apparently stable population, the

considers it be a species of

. Although its numbers have not been quantified, it is said to be "fairly common" throughout its range in Argentina. Its status in Bolivia and Paraguay is not well-documented. It is potentially impacted by habitat loss and fragmentation. One study in Argentina found the bird disappeared from parts of its former range once the forest had been fragmented into plots of less than . It is known to harbour the

chewing louse The Mallophaga are a possibly paraphyletic section Section, Sectioning or Sectioned may refer to: Arts, entertainment and media * Section (music), a complete, but not independent, musical idea * Section (typography), a subdivision, especial ...

species '' Tinamotaecola wardi'', '' Tinamotaecola andinae'', '' Colpocephalum cristatae'' and '' Colpocephalum caudatum''.

Citations

References

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

External links

Black-legged seriema photo gallery
VIRE
Photo-High Res
{{Taxonbar, from=Q933531

black-legged seriema The black-legged seriema (''Chunga burmeisteri'') is one of two living species of seriemas in the family Cariamidae. It is found from southeastern Bolivia and northern Paraguay south into north-central Argentina. It is a large, mostly grey ...

Birds of the Gran Chaco

Taxonomy articles created by Polbot Taxa named by Gustav Hartlaub