Red-legged seriema 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 three m above the ground. In the latter case adults jump into the nest rather than fly. Red-legged seriema The red-legged seriema ("Cariama cristata"), or crested cariama, is a mostly predatory terrestrial bird in the seriema family (Cariamidae), included in the Gruiformes in the old paraphyletic circumscription, but increasingly
Red-legged seriema 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: 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