The Story
I photographed this Limpkin (Aramus guarauna) at the Nowen Bridge in Puerto Concordia, Meta, Colombia, in February 2021. Its diet is dominated by apple snails, and its name comes from the way it seems to limp when it walks. It is easier to hear than to see, and its usual call is a loud, wild wail, given mostly at night and at dawn and dusk, which has earned it the name crying bird. It lives in wetlands in warm parts of the Americas. It forages mainly in shallow water and on floating plants such as water hyacinth, wading no deeper than half its body.
I used a Canon R5 with the RF 800mm f/11 plus the RF 1.4x extender for this one, at 1/1000 sec, f/16, ISO 3200. IUCN lists the Limpkin as Least Concern.
©2021 Adam Rainoff Photographer
The bird
The Limpkin (Aramus guarauna) belongs to the family Aramidae (Limpkin) in the eBird/Clements taxonomy.
Source: eBird.org (opens in a new tab)
Conservation
Least Concern on the IUCN Red List (assessment published 2025), with the population trend listed as stable. Source: IUCN Red List