The Crested screamer has black, brown, and gray feathers. Although it is a waterfowl, its feet are not webbed. It weighs between 4.4 and 11 pounds and can be 3 feet in length. The mother lays 2 to 6 eggs in a nest built on the ground near water. After 40-45 days of incubation, the chicks hatch. They can live in wetlands such as bogs, marshes, swamps, fens, and peat lands.

 

They can be found in Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Paraguay, Peru, and Uruguay. The diet of the crested screamer is made up of a variety of vegetation, including grasses and leaves of many different plants. They are heavy birds. Being so, they compete with other animals that only eat vegetation.

 

They are so large and obvious it might be surprising that they have not been hunted closer to extinction but the Screamer's great defense is that its spongy meat tastes awful. Indeed, hunters hate them because they act as sentinels and, when disturbed, emit screams that can be heard over 3 kilometers away.

 

Author: Kelsey P

Published: 02/2007

 

Photo Credit: Photo taken by user de:Benutzer:Else http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Halsband- Wehrvogel_Chanua_torquata_0505273_Ausschnitt.jpg