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All About Birds

Limpkin

Overview
ID Info
Life History
Maps
Sounds

Limpkin Sounds

Overview
ID info
Life History
Maps
Sounds

Calls (Speckled)
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Florida, May 22, 1992Recorded by Geoffrey A. Keller | Macaulay Library
Calls (Speckled)
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La Altagracia, January 08, 2019Recorded by Jay McGowan | Macaulay Library
Calls (Speckled)
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Guanacaste, March 31, 1996Recorded by David L. Ross, Jr. | Macaulay Library
Calls (Speckled)
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Florida, March 03, 2007Recorded by Michael Andersen | Macaulay Library
Calls (Brown-backed)
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Mato Grosso, June 09, 2008Recorded by Juan Pablo Culasso | Macaulay Library
Calls (Brown-backed)
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Guárico, May 08, 1963Recorded by Paul A. Schwartz | Macaulay Library

Sounds provided by Macaulay Library.
Listen to more sounds of this species from the ML archive.

Calls

Males have especially long, looped tracheas, or windpipes, as cranes do. They use these to make loud, grating, piercing high-pitched screeches and wails. During courtship feeding, or when spotting a predator such as an alligator, Limpkins produce rattling calls. Females in many contexts give a soft gon call, frequently in a slowing series as the mate delivers a rhythmic, cranelike chorus of its wails. This duet is not quite a song but is memorable—numerous writers of natural history and fiction have been moved to describe the chilling sensations produced by this sound, especially at night.

Other Sounds

Males make a buzzing, winnowing sound using their oddly shaped outermost primary.

Compare with Similar Species

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Great Blue Heron

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