Thanks, Greg. If that information is presented in the original Birds of North
America account (2002), I missed it.
B
-----Original Message-----
From: <gregory.l.walker@xxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Dec 12, 2022 11:04 AM
To: <brainard@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Cc: BIRDKY <birdky@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Subject: [birdky] Re: Ky Avifaunal Miscellanea . . . .
Such an interesting bird! I looked through photos from a very close encounter
with a limpkin at Corkscrew Swamp a few years ago and didn't have anything that
clearly showed the outer primaries, but I did find this:
* The outermost flight feather (primary) in Limpkins is sickle-shaped but
broad at the tip, and is especially pronounced in males. This feather can be
used to make a loud buzzing sound called winnowing when the bird flies, and
this sound is apparently used to mark territory, even at night.
Greg Walker
Louisville
On Mon, Dec 12, 2022 at 9:25 AM <brainard@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx
(mailto:brainard@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx)> wrote:
The Limpkin is the *fourth* new bird documented for KY this year. People have
been asking how long it has been since we've had that many new state birds in a
calendar year.
Well . . .
We had three in 2006, 2008, and 2011 . . . but it was 2004:
Yellow-billed Loon [on Ky Lake 13 Apr],
Black Skimmer [by Least Tern researchers on the Miss River 22 Jul],
Long-tailed Jaeger [Ky Lake above Ky Dam 29 Aug], and
Northern Shrike [Sinclair Unit Peabody WMA, Muhlenberg County 13 Nov].
We've also had *three* of 2022's new ones in a period of just over a month [31
Oct - 4 Dec]! The closest thing to that I can find is Sooty Tern [4 Oct],
Long-billed Murrelet [29 Oct], and Common Ground-Dove [24 Nov] back in 2002.
And as long as we are on trivia . . . out of all the many thousands of square
miles in KY, the Limpkin was found *only* 8.8 air miles SSW from where the
Brown Boody was found on Lake Malone in late May!
Finally, RE: Limpkin trivia . . . I was reading up on them this morning and
learned that the lower mandible is curved to the right at the tip; this
adaptation allows for easier extraction of Apple Snail bodies from their
shells! Not sure if any photos will show that. I was reading to try to learn
about the possible function of the odd shape to the outermost primary feathers
of adult Limpkins. The feathers are short and oddly twisted at the tip. Ray
Bontrager mentioned that character to me yesterday while we were chatting about
age of the KY bird. Regarding age, I'm not sure we can tell for certain, but to
me the size of the white markings on the body more closely match an adult than
a young bird. I could not find anything about the oddly shaped outer primaries,
by the way, so if anyone does, please share.
bpb, Louisville
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