The limpkin (Aramus guarauna), also called carrao, courlan, and crying bird, is a large wading bird related to rails and cranes, and the only extant species in the family Aramidae.

Tall, long-legged bird of marshes and swampy forests with a long neck and a long and heavy yellowish bill. Brown overall with white spotting on the back and sides. An Apple Snail specialist, Limpkins use their strong decurved bills to pry open these snails before eating them.

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 and southern Georgia -- only where it can satisfy its dietary requirement for a certain fresh-water snail.

Long restricted to Florida, the large wading birds have begun popping up across much of the United States and as far north as Canada in a rapid range expansion that has shocked experts. A Limpkin flies over Lake Okeechobee in Florida, long the northern extent of the subtropical species’ range. Photo: Sydney Walsh/Audubon.

Large heronlike bird, reminiscent of a gangly ibis but more closely related to rails. Brown with white spots and streaks, densest on the head and neck. Long yellowish bill is slightly decurved. Found in marshes or swamps, often with trees and shrubs, but also regularly seen at the edges of ponds in otherwise highly managed city parks.

The limpkin is the only member of its taxonomic family, Aramidae. Although they resemble herons and ibises in general form, limpkins are generally considered to be more closely related to rails and cranes. Brown with white spots and streaks, limpkins have long necks, bills, and legs.

Mar 9, 2023 · These large birds can be spotted in Florida and in Central and South America. What looks like a rail, crane, ibis and heron, and screams like a banshee? Is it a rail-crane-ibis-heron banshee bird? No, it’s a Limpkin (Aramus guarauna), a peculiar wading bird.

The gangly, brown-and-white Limpkin looks a bit like a giant rail or perhaps a young night-heron. Its long bill is bent and twisted at the tip, an adaptation for removing snails from the shell. Limpkins are tropical wetland birds whose range reaches into Florida.

The limpkin (Aramus guarauna) is the only living member of this family, although other species are known from the fossil record, such as Papulavis annae from the Eocene of France, [2] Aramus paludigrus from the Middle Miocene of Colombia [3] and Badistornis aramus from the Oligocene of South Dakota, USA.

Nov 17, 2023 · How to Find Limpkin. Here are some useful tips to increase your chances of observing Limpkin in the wild: Focus your search around wetland habitats like marshes, swamps, streams, ponds, and lake edges. Listen for their loud wailing cries which can alert you to …