Red-legged Seriema

Cariama cristata

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 but recently placed in a distinct order: Cariamiformes (along with three extinct families).

The red-legged seriema is widely distributed in South America, occurring in central and eastern Brazil through eastern Bolivia and Paraguay to Uruguay and central Argentina (south to La Pampa).Like the black-legged seriema, farmers often use them as guard animals to protect poultry from predators and sometimes human intruders.