Happy to spot a pair of Limpkins this week in their usual spot while birding near Huntington Beach State Park in Murrells Inlet SC.
Although I only laid eyes on one of them, I could hear it’s mate calling out from the deeper woods. Freak’n awesome.
Alligator concerns aside, it was so much fun to walk through a cypress swamp to find these beautiful birds again!
Limpkins are freshwater foragers and are best found in wooded swamp areas which fits the description of this habitat perfectly.
Seeing these birds so far north was really interesting and I was able to watch the bird hunting for snails in the cypress swamp for quite a while.
They are picky eaters, choosing the perfect snails and then cracking the shells open on a rock to get at the soft meat inside.
No matter where they are found, Limpkins depend heavily on snail populations for feeding. As seen in these photos, they’ve got bills which are specialized for feeding on the snails, with a slight curve to the right near the tip to aid extracting snails from their shells, and a gap near the tip that facilitates grasping snail shells.
This Limpkin and it’s mate are pretty far away from their normal home range which typically only extends north from South America into Florida. From what I’ve heard from local reports, this pair actually nested here this past summer and successfully raised a few chicks.
In fact this isn’t the only pair who have been found in SC. In recent years other Limpkins have been sighted as far inland as the Goose Creek reservoir including a breeding pair which was the first ever nest recorded in the state.
Hopefully when I return here for my next birding tour here next month, I’ll be able to locate their nest and be able to photograph the little ones.
Photos by @sally_siko of @birdwatching_nc on my beloved full frame 50MP beast, the mighty @canonusa #5Ds
