The Limpkin (also called carrao, courlan, and crying bird), Aramus guarauna, is a bird that looks like a large rail but is skeletally closer to cranes. It is the living species in the genus Aramus and the family Aramidae. It is found mostly in wetlands in warm parts of the Americas from Florida to northern Argentina.

The Limpkin is placed in its own monotypic family Aramidae. Aramidae, which is in turn placed within the crane and rail order Gruiformes. Recent DNA studies have confirmed a close relationship with particularly the cranes with the Limpkin remaining as a family close to the cranes and the two being sister taxa to the trumpeters.

This bird is easier to hear than see. Its common vocalization is a loud wild wail or scream with some rattling quality, represented as "kwEEEeeer or klAAAar." This call is most often given at night and at dawn and dusk. It has been used for jungle sound effects in Tarzan films and for the hippogriff in the film Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban. Other calls include "wooden clicking", clucks, and in alarm, a "piercing bihk, bihk..."

To hear a limpkin go to: http://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Limpkin/sounds


These photos were taken at Cano Negro and Hacienda Solimar.

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