"The Bird That Limps" - a photo on Flickriver

                  Limpkins, Aramus guarauna, are medium-sized wading birds with long legs and long, slightly curved beaks. Their bodies are covered in brown feathers, and their heads and elongated necks are accented with white flecks. They’re usually found in freshwater wetlands, swamps and mangroves.

These leggy birds seem to limp as they walk across uneven wetland surfaces — hence the name limpkins.

In English, the limpkin is also called crying bird. In other languages, they are sometimes named after their call, like carau and guareao.

Limpkins live in wetlands in a great deal of Central and South America east of the Andes, the Caribbean, and parts of Mexico and Florida.

They are mostly year-round residents, with local movements but no long migrations. They have been reported recently in Georgia and Louisiana, indicating their range may be expanding.

They mostly eat apple snails, but sometimes eat other aquatic mollusks. They’ve also been known to eat insects, frogs, lizards or worms if that’s all they can find.

Their apple-snail diet is a major factor that determines where limpkins live, which could explain the recent increase of populations in some areas of Florida. There’s a new invasive snail moving into Florida, Pomacea maculata, the island apple snail. They are abundant and a popular meal for limpkins. More food means more birds.

 Another bird benefiting from the abundant invasive island apple snail is the snail kite, Rostrhamus sociabilis. Snail kites are locally endangered in Florida but higher numbers have been seen recently. They prefer the same type of environment and diet as limpkins, and are also eating the invasive island apple snails.

I found this one at Joe Overstreet Landing , Lake Kissimmee, in Osceola County, Florida.

Taken on: July 15, 2019

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Gary Helm

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