The huge carnivorous bird from South America with an estimated wingspan of several meters was Argentavis.
Argentavis magnificens was an extinct teratorn that lived in Argentina during the Late Miocene, roughly six million years ago. It was among the largest flying birds ever known and remains the heaviest known flying bird in many scientific comparisons. Early estimates placed its wingspan as high as 8.3 meters, while later analyses have produced more conservative estimates around 5 to 7 meters.
Argentavis was probably a powerful soaring bird that used rising air currents to travel across open landscapes. Its enormous wings made sustained flapping flight difficult, so it likely depended on gliding and thermal lift. Although often described as carnivorous, researchers increasingly suggest that it may have scavenged carrion or stolen food from other predators rather than regularly killing large prey.
The name is sometimes confused with Teratornis, another giant teratorn from North America, or the Andean condor, which is a living relative and much smaller. Argentavis was not a “terror bird”: those were generally flightless predatory birds in a different South American lineage.