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Limpkins
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Length: 22 inches Wingspan: 42 inches
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Large long-necked long-legged wading bird; with neck
extended in flight
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Long, slightly decurved bill with yellowish-orange base
and dark tip
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Often flicks and cocks short tail while walking a high-stepping
gait
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Dark brown plumage
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Head, neck, and underparts streaked extensively with
white
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Back and upperwing coverts have bold white spots and
streaks
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Immature similar to adult, but paler
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White-streaked underwing coverts visible in flight
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Sexes similar
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Looking like something between a crane and a rail, this odd wading
bird has no close relatives. It is widespread in the American tropics,
but enters our area only in Florida, where it can satisfy its dietary
requirement for a certain freshwater snail. Mostly solitary, Limpkins
may be overlooked as they stalk about in marshes and swamps, but
they certainly draw attention with their piercing banshee wails,
often heard at dawn or at night. Its cry is a piercing, repeated
wail, kree-ow, kra-ow, etc., etc., especially at night and on cloudy
days.
A large spotted swamp wader, it stands about 28 inches tall. The
Limpkin is found in open freshwater marshes, along the shores of
ponds and lakes, and in wooded swamps along rivers and near springs.
Limpkin's favorite food is large apple snails (genus Pomacea). In
Florida, it also eats other kinds of snails and mussels; sometimes
insects, crustaceans, worms, frogs, lizards.
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Part
I
November
19, 2004