2023 Limpkin at Crystal Cove Park, Dakota County, NE

Authors

Bill Huser, Nebraska Ornithologists' UnionFollow

Date of this Version

9-2023

Document Type

Article

Citation

Nebraska Bird Review, volume 91, number 3, September 2023, pp. 113–114.

Comments

Published by the Nebraska Ornithologists’ Union, Inc.

Abstract

On the morning of October 7, 2023, I observed Nebraska’s second Limpkin (Aramus guarauna) at Crystal Cove Park in South Sioux City, and the bird was subsequently seen by several other observers throughout that afternoon. Photo and video records were obtained (https://ebird.org/checklist/S151656716). The summer and fall of 2023 brought fourteen sightings to Iowa, though it is impossible to determine how many birds were involved (eBird, 2023). One of those sightings occurred in the northwestern part of the state at Bacon Creek Park in Sioux City when a single Limpkin was independently reported by two observers on September 15. Crystal Cove Park is a mere 5.5 miles from the Bacon Creek site. The Bacon Creek bird was observed sporadically through October 14 (Marla Kerr, pers. comm.) with reports on eBird September 15, 18, 23, and October 14. Nebraska’s first record of a Limpkin occurred on June 23, 2022, when Karen Kader observed a single individual of the species at Wehrspann Wetlands, Sarpy County. This bird was observed nearly daily at this site by numerous birders up to August 3, when one was observed at Chalco Hills Recreation Area in Sarpy County. This bird was last seen at this site on October 5, and a Limpkin next appeared for a single day at Heron Haven, Douglas County, on October 14. This first state record appeared to be part of the recent wave of northward expanding Limpkins. Tennessee recorded its first Limpkin in 2017. In 2019 first records for Ohio (three birds) and Illinois (1 bird) were added. By 2022, the list of states with first Limpkin records also included Minnesota, Texas, Missouri, Indiana, Kansas, Iowa, and Nebraska (Silcock and Jorgensen, 2023).