Limpkin

Aramus guarauna

Order GRUIFORMES - Family ARAMIDAE

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1. Cool Facts
2. Description
3. Similar Species
4. Sound
5. Range
6. Habitat
7. Food
8. Behavior
9. Reproduction
10. Conservation Status
11. Other Names

An unusual bird of southern swamps and marshes, the Limpkin reaches the northern limits of its breeding range in Florida. There, it feeds almost exclusively on apple snails, which it extracts from their shells with its long bill. Its screaming cry is unmistakable and evocative.

Cool Facts

• The Limpkin's bill is uniquely adapted to foraging on apple snails. The closed bill has a gap just before the tip that makes the bill act like tweezers. The tip itself is often curved slightly to the right so it can be slipped into the right-handed chamber of the snail.

• The Limpkin is the only member of its taxonomic family. Although it resembles herons and ibises in general form, the Limpkin is generally considered to be more closely related to rails and cranes.

• In the 1800s, European settlers noted that the Limpkin was so tame that it could sometimes be caught on the nest.

Description

• Size: 64-73 cm (25-29 in)
• Wingspan: 101-107 cm (40-42 in)
• Weight: 900-1300 g (31.77-45.89 ounces)

• Large.
• Long neck.
• Long bill.
• Long legs. 
• Brown with white spots.

• Face and neck paler and with finer markings than on rest of body.
• Slight bronze sheen on wings and tail.
• Wings very broad.
• Legs dark.
• Bill yellowish with dark tip.
• Eyes dark.

Sex Differences

Sexes similar, male slightly larger.

Immature

Similar to adult, but with fewer, thinner white spots.

Similar Species

• Immature White Ibis has a white belly and pinkish legs.
• Glossy Ibis darker and with no white spots.
• American Bittern and immature night-herons with shorter and thicker bill and neck.

Sound

A loud, unmistakable scream, usually in series of four to ten at a time.

»listen to songs of this species

Range

Summer Range

Resident in Florida. Also throughout the West Indies, on the coasts of Mexico and Central America, and across most of South America.

Habitat

Open freshwater marshes, swamp forests, and shores of rivers, lakes, and ponds.

Food

Apple snails (Pomacea sp.) and freshwater mussels.

Behavior

Foraging

Searches visually for snails in clear water, or by jabbing or sweeping with bill. Turns the snail shell opening upward, cuts through the muscle attachment, and pulls out the snail. Extraction takes about 10 to 20 seconds; the shell is rarely broken.

Displays

Territorial males engage in aggressive, ritualistic confrontations that include charging, retreating, and loud calling.

Reproduction

Nest Type

A platform of sticks, vines, leaves, moss, grass, and other types of vegetation, built in any of a variety of sites, from the surface of floating vegetation to tree limbs 40 feet above the ground.

Egg Description

Variable. Light grayish white or deep olive with brownish or purplish gray streaks and blotches.

Clutch Size

Usually 5-6 eggs. Range: 3-8.

Condition at Hatching

Covered with down and able to swim, walk, and run.

Conservation Status

Once abundant in Florida, the Limpkin was almost eradicated by humans hunting for food. Conversion of wetlands for agriculture, flood control, and development have further contributed to the species' decline in Florida, estimated at about 9.1 percent per year from 1966 to 1993.

Other Names

Courlan brun (French)
Carreo (Spanish)

Sources used to construct this page:

Bryan, D. C. 2002. Limpkin (Aramus guarauna). In The Birds of North America, No. 627 (A. Poole and F. Gill, eds.). The Birds of North America, Inc., Philadelphia, PA.