Limpkin

 

Limpkins are adventurous from the start, leaving their nest within the first day of being born.^[1] In 1928, Donald Nicholson wrote about running into this quality of theirs in his quest to snag a particular photo:

Several nests were found with young emerging from the shell but it was raining each time, and desiring pictures of young in the nest, I returned the next day, only to find that they had left to explore their new world.
- Donald Nicholson (1928, pp. 307-308)^[2]

Limpkins love to eat apple snails, and they’re the only bird in the family Aramidae. So all around, they’re pretty cool birds!

The Details:

Common Name: Limpkin
Scientific Name: Aramus guarauna
Order: Gruiformes

Family: Aramidae (It is the only bird in this family!)

Seen: Wading in the vegetation and water
Month: March

Learn More About Limpkins:

1. Audubon. (n.d.). Limpkin. [Note: The webpage says the bird guide text was adapted from Lives of North American Birds by Kenn Kaufman© 1996]
2. Nicholson, D. (1928). Habits of the Limpkin in Florida. The Auk, 45(3), 305-309. https://doi.org/10.2307/4076019