October General Meeting on Zoom

“What’s Up With Those Limpkins? The Great Limpkin Vagrancy Event” Presented by Marky Mutchler, University of Chicago and The Field Museum, Chicago, IL and Mary Nemecek, Missouri Rare Bird Record Committee and Past President of BAS. Limpkins are large wading birds, primarily considered non-migratory. For over a century they’ve been limited in the US to Florida and southern Georgia. In 2017, Limpkins began expanding along the Gulf Coast, but nothing could have predicted the “Hot Limpkin Summers” of 2022 and 2023. Nineteen states received their first state records during this 2-year period, including Missouri and Kansas. A recent publication in the Wilson Journal of Ornithology (M. Mutchler, M. Nemecek, M. Robbins) took an in-depth look at the historical and modern-day movement of Limpkins in the US, and what could be the reasons for this extraordinary mass movement. Marky and Mary will discuss limpkin movements past and present, as well as possible drivers of their fascinating dispersal.