With our silent catamaran wew ere able to come fairly close to this limpkin. It had found some snails at the water's edge and was more concerned about those than about us. It is a fairly big bird (66 cms) and it looks like a big rail, but it is actually more closely related to the cranes. The distribution of this species is impressive; it extends up north to southern Florida. It nests in vegetation like the one in the picture and it lays six eggs in a simple nest.