Limpkin

Welcome to this week’s Wildlife of the Week!

Our species this week is the Limpkin!

Aramus guarauna

This week’s very special Wildlife of the Week is the limpkin, a rare visitor to the refuge. The limpkin is a large freshwater wading bird similar in size, shape and color to an immature American white ibis. They are a little over two feet long with a wingspan of approximately 40 inches. Their plumage is a drab brown with white specks or streaks throughout. A long downcurved yellowish bill with a dark tip is characteristic. Apple snails are their primary prey and the presence of this mollusk restricts their range. In the United States their range is mostly limited to Florida and the Okefenokee Swamp in southern Georgia.

They can be seen in small groups foraging for prey in shallow wetland areas where they probe in mud with their long bill. Less important food items are crustaceans, worms, insects, frogs, and other freshwater mollusks. They feed both day and night, and when they catch a snail, they move to solid ground to remove the snail from the shell. Their bill uniquely curves to the right, facilitating removing the snail from the curved shell. Limpkins are uncommon visitors to Wheeler NWR. The first recorded sighting of a limpkin on the refuge was in 2018. There have been infrequent but increasing sightings since. One was spotted in White Springs in November 2022, and in 2023-24, sporadic sightings continued. Nine individual limpkins have been recently spotted on the refuge. It is unclear why limpkins have suddenly found Wheeler NWR, and we don’t know if they will stay. The limpkins in the pictures were in Limestone Creek on the refuge.

(Photos by Tom Ress)