The black-legged seriema (''Chunga burmeisteri'') is one of two living
species
A species () is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate sexes or mating types can produce fertile offspring, typically by sexual reproduction. It is the basic unit of Taxonomy (biology), ...
of seriemas in the family
Cariamidae
The seriemas are the sole living members of the small bird family Cariamidae (the entire family is also referred to as "seriemas"), which is also the only surviving lineage of the order Cariamiformes. Once believed to be related to Crane (bird), ...
. It is found from southeastern
Bolivia
Bolivia, officially the Plurinational State of Bolivia, is a landlocked country located in central South America. The country features diverse geography, including vast Amazonian plains, tropical lowlands, mountains, the Gran Chaco Province, w ...
and northern
Paraguay
Paraguay, officially the Republic of Paraguay, is a landlocked country in South America. It is bordered by Argentina to the Argentina–Paraguay border, south and southwest, Brazil to the Brazil–Paraguay border, east and northeast, and Boli ...
south into north-central
Argentina
Argentina, officially the Argentine Republic, is a country in the southern half of South America. It covers an area of , making it the List of South American countries by area, second-largest country in South America after Brazil, the fourt ...
. 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 ...
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 "unisp ...
, with no subspecies. Like its
red-legged cousin, it is an
omnivore
An omnivore () is an animal that regularly consumes significant quantities of both plant and animal matter. Obtaining energy and nutrients from plant and animal matter, omnivores digest carbohydrates, protein, fat, and fiber, and metabolize t ...
. It seldom flies, instead pursuing prey and eluding danger on foot. Its loud calls, said to sound like
kookaburra
Kookaburras (pronounced ) are terrestrial animal, 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 language, Wira ...
s,
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 ocell ...
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) is an international organization working in the field of nature conservation and sustainable use of natural resources. Founded in 1948, IUCN has become the global authority on the stat ...
rates the species as one of
least concern
A least-concern species is a species that has been evaluated and categorized by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) as not being a focus of wildlife conservation because the specific species is still plentiful in the wil ...
, due to its large range and apparently stable numbers.
Taxonomy
German ornithologist
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 ...
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 polyphyletic circumscription ...
, based on small differences between the species. However, it was quickly elevated to the status of a full
genus
Genus (; : genera ) is a taxonomic rank above species and below family (taxonomy), family as used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In bino ...
. The black-legged seriema, which has no
subspecies
In Taxonomy (biology), biological classification, subspecies (: subspecies) is a rank below species, used for populations that live in different areas and vary in size, shape, or other physical characteristics (Morphology (biology), morpholog ...
, is the only extant species in the genus. The other member of the genus, ''
Chunga incerta'', lived in the mid to late
Pliocene
The Pliocene ( ; also Pleiocene) is the epoch (geology), epoch in the geologic time scale that extends from 5.33 to 2.58[Cariamidae
The seriemas are the sole living members of the small bird family Cariamidae (the entire family is also referred to as "seriemas"), which is also the only surviving lineage of the order Cariamiformes. Once believed to be related to Crane (bird), ...](_blank)
.
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 languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area aroun ...
ized word, invented in the mid-19th century and taken directly from the
Tupi 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 tropical terrestrial ecoregions of the Americas and the entire South American temperate zone.
Definition
In biogeog ...
; 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 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 tai ...
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 has a strongly
decurved 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 are speckled with white.
Vocalisations
Its call notes are a series of yelps and barks, said to sound like a
turkey
Turkey, officially the Republic of Türkiye, is a country mainly located in Anatolia in West Asia, with a relatively small part called East Thrace in Southeast Europe. It borders the Black Sea to the north; Georgia (country), Georgia, Armen ...
, 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.
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) biome and ecosystem characterised by the trees being sufficiently widely spaced so that the canopy does not close. The open canopy allows sufficient light to reach th ...
,
shrubland
Shrubland, scrubland, scrub, brush, or bush is a plant community characterized by vegetation dominance (ecology), dominated by shrubs, often also including grasses, herbaceous plant, herbs, and geophytes. Shrubland may either occur naturally o ...
and
dry, open forest, including the
Dry Chaco 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, San Juan, San Luis and Mendoza Provinces, plus the western half of La Pampa Province and the ext ...
. 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 regularly consumes significant quantities of both plant and animal matter. Obtaining energy and nutrients from plant and animal matter, omnivores digest carbohydrates, protein, fat, and fiber, and metabolize ...
. Insects, particularly
beetle
Beetles are insects that form the Taxonomic rank, order Coleoptera (), in the superorder Holometabola. Their front pair of wings are hardened into wing-cases, elytra, distinguishing them from most other insects. The Coleoptera, with about 40 ...
s and
locust
Locusts (derived from the Latin ''locusta'', locust or lobster) are various species of short-horned grasshoppers in the family Acrididae that have a swarming phase. These insects are usually solitary, but under certain circumstances they b ...
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 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
There is no generally accepted definition of Indigenous peoples, although in the 21st century the focus has been on self-identification, cultural difference from other groups in a state, a special relationship with their traditional territ ...
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 Gran Chaco, Pampas of the Central Chaco. During the 16th century, the Qom inhabited a la ...
of Argentina make a
poultice
A poultice or cataplasm, also called a fomentation, is a soft moist mass, often heated and medicated, that is applied to the skin to reduce inflammation, soothe pain, promote healing, or otherwise treat wounds or ailments. Soft materials like cer ...
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
International Union for Conservation of Nature
The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) is an international organization working in the field of nature conservation and sustainable use of natural resources. Founded in 1948, IUCN has become the global authority on the stat ...
considers it be a species of
least concern
A least-concern species is a species that has been evaluated and categorized by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) as not being a focus of wildlife conservation because the specific species is still plentiful in the wil ...
. 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 species ''
Tinamotaecola wardi'', ''
Tinamotaecola andinae'', ''
Colpocephalum cristatae
''Colpocephalum'' is a genus of chewing louse. Christian Ludwig Nitzsch named the genus in 1818. The Plenary Powers of the International Commission on Zoological Nomenclature selected ''Colpocephalum zebra'' as its type species in the 1950s. The ...
'' and ''
Colpocephalum caudatum''.
Citations
References
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External links
Black-legged seriema photo galleryVIRE
Photo-High Res
{{Taxonbar, from=Q933531
black-legged seriema
black-legged seriema
Birds of the Gran Chaco
black-legged seriema
Taxonomy articles created by Polbot
Taxa named by Gustav Hartlaub