Red-legged seriema a fan-shaped crest. Many other characteristics are shared with the black-legged seriema ("Chunga burmeisteri"), the only other living member of its family. Some of these traits are discussed in the Cariamidae article. 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
Black-legged seriema as lizards and snakes. They supplement this diet with some plant material, too. They have a large, curved, and hyperextensible claw on the second digit of each hind foot. This claw resembles that of the ancient troodontidae dinosaurs, such as "Stenonychosaurus". If a piece of food is too large to be swallowed whole, the seriema will cut it apart with the sickle-claw. This claw is also used to kill prey, and climb trees. Farmers in South America often capture young seriemas from the wild, and tame them. They are then trained to guard the farm against potential predators, such as