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Red-legged Seriema


Red-legged Seriema
Photo Information
Copyright: Peter van Zoest (PeterZ) Gold Star Critiquer/Gold Star Workshop Editor/Gold Note Writer [C: 5137 W: 166 N: 13121] (49139)
Genre: Animals
Medium: Color
Date Taken: 2013-09-16
Categories: Birds
Camera: Nikon D90, Sigma 135-400mm f/4.5-5.6 APO, Digital RAW
Exposure: f/5.6, 1/1000 seconds
Details: Tripod: Yes
More Photo Info: [view]
Photo Version: Original Version
Date Submitted: 2014-08-06 5:08
Viewed: 1591
Points: 34
[Note Guidelines] Photographer's Note
When we saw a few Red-legged Seriemas, we stopped our car. After we used the I-phone with the typical song of the seriema, they came closer and closer to our car. They were searching for the bird who made that sound, but couldn’t find it. They made their own calls very loud and circled a few times around our car. So we get the opportunity to made a few nice pictures with the beanbag on the window.

For their typical song see the text in the description.

The Red-legged Seriema or Crested Cariama (Cariama cristata) is a mostly predatory terrestrial bird in the seriema family (Cariamidae), included in the "Gruiformes" in the old paraphyletic circumscription, but increasingly placed in a distinct order Cariamiformes (along with three extinct families). The Red-legged Seriema inhabits grasslands from Brazil south of the Amazon to Uruguay and northern Argentina. The area over which it occurs is estimated at 5.9 million km², though the bird is not found everywhere in this region of course. The species is absent from the Mata Atlântica and planalto uplands along the coast of Brazil.

Description
It is 75 to 90 cm long and weighs about 1.5 kg, with a fairly long neck, tail, and legs. The plumage is medium brown above with black markings; pale brown on the head, neck, and breast; and white on the belly. The tail has a black band near the tip and a white tip. The beak and legs are red, and the eyes are yellow. Soft feathers emerge from the base of the bill to form a fan-shaped crest.
Many other characteristics are shared with the Black-legged Seriema (Chunga burmeisteri), the only other living member of its family.

The song has a quality described as "a cross between 'the serrated bark of a young dog and the clucking of turkeys'". At the loudest part of the song, the bird has its neck bent so its head is touching its back. Both members of a pair as well as young down to the age of two weeks sing; often one member of a family starts a song just as another finishes, or two sing simultaneously. The song can be heard several kilometres away; in Emas National Park, Brazil, in 1981–1982, observers often heard four Red-legged Seriemas or groups singing at once.
The full song consists of three sections:
1. Repeated single notes at constant pitch (1,200 to 1,300 Hz) and duration but increasing tempo
2. Repeated two- or three-note subphrases of slightly higher pitch with increasing tempo
3. Subphrases of up to 10 notes, shorter ones rising in pitch and longer ones falling, two-subphrase combinations increasing in number of notes and tempo and then decreasing in tempo.

Ecology
The Red-legged Seriema prefers grassland habitat to any other. Though it likes to inhabit lush meadows near rivers, it will not readily move into wetlands or crop fields. It is usually seen singly or in pairs, but sometimes in groups up to four, apparently families. It typically walks on the ground and can easily run faster than a human in its habitat. It will flee a car on foot at speeds up to 25 km/h (15 mi/hr) before flying.

In one conflict between two birds, they jumped at each other feet-first, keeping their balance by flapping.
This species nests on the ground or in a bush or tree up to 3 m above the ground. In the latter case adults jump into the nest rather than fly.

Source: Wikipedia.
Hotelcalifornia, CeltickRanger, marius-secan, Cobo, kinglove, anel, Hormon_Manyer, Chiza has marked this note useful
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Critiques [Translate]

  • Great 
  • lousat Gold Star Critiquer/Gold Star Workshop Editor/Gold Note Writer [C: 6595 W: 89 N: 15659] (65489)
  • [2014-08-06 5:14]

Hi Peter,fantastic capture of this very rare specie walking,great timing and the best DOF for very impressive detail in the best exposure,i like it! Have a nice day and thanks,Luciano

hallo Peter
Leuke foto en weer super scherp
de kleuren zijn prachtig vooral dat rood springt er uit
bedankt weer
gr lou

Hello Peter-What a beautiful bird.I haven't seen before.Very well captured and I like your PP work.Watching minutely.....!Nice BG too.Thanks for sharing.Regards and have a nice time-Srikumar

Hello Peter

You shot the photo at the best moment of the
bird's pose, fine lateral POV on its expressive pose,
with great focus, sharpness, details, TFS

Asbed

Hello Peter,
A top quality image! The details, focus and sharpness are splendid. Lovely contrast of this beautiful bird against the green environment. Fantastic details and clarity. Very nice composition.
Thanks for sharing this interesting capture.
Marius.

Another beautiful photo of an interesting bird Peter! Nice walking pose, wonderful colours and good sharpness.
Regards,
Christodoulos

Bom dia Peter,
A very nice and expressive shot.
Great details and very balanced composition. Excellent timing.
Regards,
Raimundo

Ciao Peter, great capture of fanastic bird in nice walking pose, splendid light, fine details wonderful colors and good sarpness, very well done, my friend, ciao Silvio

Hi Peter

An interesting long legged bird from Pantanal, a runner rather than a flyer. Nicely done.

Himanshu

Peter,
GREAT NOTES!!!
Lovely composition.
HIGHLY IMPRESSIVE!!!
Mario.
P.S. Have "discovered" the mischief maker !!!
My attitude is: FORGIVE & FORGET.
Thanks for your e-mail.

  • Great 
  • Cobo Gold Star Critiquer/Gold Note Writer [C: 236 W: 1 N: 535] (5799)
  • [2014-08-07 11:02]

Very goof picture, very natural and with great information. Congratulation and thank you.

  • Great 
  • john1 Gold Star Critiquer/Gold Note Writer [C: 122 W: 0 N: 439] (3410)
  • [2014-08-07 12:39]

Hi Peter,

Great action shot, the sharpness and the détails are splendid.
I like the texture of the plumage, very nice colors and light.
Excellent focus, TFS.
My best regards.
John vantighem

Hi Peter,
照的很漂亮 很美麗的鳥 也很清晰
第一次見到這種品種 真是訝異 讚嘆
還嘴巴打開的鏡頭 照的很棒
構圖也很美麗 真是好看
謝謝分享
STONE

  • Great 
  • anel Gold Star Critiquer/Gold Note Writer [C: 3053 W: 3 N: 8715] (40574)
  • [2014-08-10 2:00]

Hello Peter,
Sorry,missed some shots. This one is really interesting and the way you made him coming closer a little bit tricky :-)Very vivid natural shot. I like a lot.
Kind regards
Anne

Hi Peter,
Great way to photograph animals. I'll try it with my fungi also. :-D Perfectly composed photo with the running seriema, excellent exposure to freeze the bird into the pic with wonderful details and well blurred background to help to isolate the bird from the background in the viewer's mind. Exceptional image. Bravo!
Best regards, László

  • Great 
  • Chiza Gold Star Critiquer/Gold Note Writer [C: 133 W: 0 N: 474] (5351)
  • [2014-08-12 17:19]

Hola Peter, una especie de lujo y una bella foto llena de acción, hermoso el entorno natural, la luz y color...saludos.

WOW! Peter, an amazing one indeed. I missed this photo of yours before. I love it. Just amazing :)

Emin

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