Limpkin / Koerlan, Krawkraw

Limpkin (Aramus guarauna)

Pictures (click on them to enlarge)
© Carl Beel	© George Hageman	© George Hageman
© Roy Tjin	© Iling Tjon Pian Gi	© Iling Tjon Pian Gi
© Iling Tjon Pian Gi	French Guiana © Thierry Smallegange	French Guiane © Roland Jantot
Florida © Jean-Louis Rousselle

Limpkin: It is a brown bird, large as a heron, that is mainly found in marshes where it likes to eat snails or fresh water mussels. When night falls it makes a far carrying sound, resembling its name in many languages (carrao or karaw or krawkraw, see below). It is related to the cranes and rails and just as with them, the feet are often hanging down when they start to fly away. As their meat tastes good, they are heavily hunted in Suriname.
First a photo made by Carl Beel in Suriname in September 2008 near Paramaribo. Then photos of a Limpkin, seen near Wageningen in Suriname, made by Steven Wytema and one by George Haneman at Peperpot plantation, near Paramaribo, Suriname in 2005. Roy Tjin saw his bird near the Pad van Wanica in October 2016, in a characteristic pose.
I-Ling Tjon Pian Gi saw an adult with five chicken walking in Morgenstond in June 2018 (first video). Dominiek Plouvier made the second video of a calling Limkin in Commewijne and the third of an eating Limpkin with a swimming sungrebe in the background.

Video (click the link or the 'play'-button to see)
Video recording of a Limpkin © ;	Video recording of a Limpkin © ;	Video recording of a Limpkin © ;

Distribution

Each small square indicates the observation of at least one (group) of these birds, the medium ones at least four observations on different days and the largest ones ten or more. The color of each square indicates: blue for coastal area, yellow for savanna and red for rainforest.
Not all places in Suriname have been equally often visited by birders, so the distribution of the squares gives an indication of the whereabouts of the birds, but also of the birders. Some places deep in the south have no reported bird observations, by experienced birders, within 60 kilometer.

Abundance in different areas
coastal zone (blue dots on the map) :
northern savannas (yellow dots (in the north)) :
rainforest under 400 m (red dots) :
rainforest above 400 m (red dots) :
Sipaliwini savanna (yellow dots (in the south)) :
A blank is shown if not convincingly reported in the zone. Data interpreted by Arie Spaans, Otte Ottema and Jan Hein Ribot.

Names
Scientific name:	Aramus guarauna
Order:	Gruiformes
Family:	Aramidae, 1 in Suriname
Dutch:	Koerlan, Krawkraw
English:	Limpkin
Sranan ('Surinamese'):	Krawkraw
Guyana:
Papiamento:
Spanish (Venezuela):	Carrao
Portugese (Brazil):	Carão
Arowak:	Karaw
Carib:	Karaw
French:	Courlan brun, Courlan courlili

Observations through the year	Observations of breeding through the year

The 242 reported observations of this bird in Suriname, mainly for the last 50 years up to 2018, have been grouped by month. More birds on one day are counted as one observation. Of course, if the graph should depict the total number of birds seen, the differences between the months could be much more pronounced.	The 1 reported breeding observations of this bird in Suriname. Most observations are about nest with eggs, some about fledglings, or feeding at a nest or the building of a nest. Of the about 5000 nests and eggs found for all species together, about 1/3 comes from the egg collection of Penard between 1896 and 1905. For some reason most collecting then was done in the first half of each year, so the shown distribution does not necessarily reflect the actual breeding preferences. The main dry season in Suriname is reckoned to be from half August to the end of November, the main wet season from half April to half August, but the the timing of begin and end does vary from year to year. Around March a second dry season often occurs.

Observations through the year

Observations of breeding through the year

The 242 reported observations of this bird in Suriname, mainly for the last 50 years up to 2018, have been grouped by month. More birds on one day are counted as one observation. Of course, if the graph should depict the total number of birds seen, the differences between the months could be much more pronounced.

The 1 reported breeding observations of this bird in Suriname. Most observations are about nest with eggs, some about fledglings, or feeding at a nest or the building of a nest.

Of the about 5000 nests and eggs found for all species together, about 1/3 comes from the egg collection of Penard between 1896 and 1905. For some reason most collecting then was done in the first half of each year, so the shown distribution does not necessarily reflect the actual breeding preferences.
The main dry season in Suriname is reckoned to be from half August to the end of November, the main wet season from half April to half August, but the the timing of begin and end does vary from year to year. Around March a second dry season often occurs.

Last update: September 2024 by Jan Hein Ribot. Please mail your comments, photos to: jhribot ( residing at ) gmail (point!) com.
observations can be uploaded to suriname.observation.org or ebird.org ).