Limpkin | Aramidae

Koerlan | Carrao

The Limpkin (Aramus guarauna) is the only member of this family, a bird of marshes, riverbanks and flooded forest from the south-eastern United States to Argentina. Within its order it is most closely related to the cranes, but in build it looks more like a large rail or an ibis: long legs, a long neck and a long, slightly decurved bill, with dark brown plumage finely streaked and spotted with white on the head, neck and back. The mandibles do not quite meet just behind the tip, and the tip is often slightly twisted, which helps to pull the animal out of an apple snail's shell without breaking it. Apple snails are the main food, supplemented by mussels, crayfish and other small animals. The call is a loud, wailing, repeated 'kree-ow', heard mainly at dusk and at night. The flight is stiff, with a jerky upstroke. In the region the Limpkin breeds in the Greater Antilles, mainly on Cuba, Jamaica and Hispaniola.