Limpkin with Apple Snail

IraRunyanIraRunyan Registered Users Posts: 1,013 Major grins
edited December 11, 2008 in Wildlife
From the Cornell Lab of Ornithology:
"The Limpkin Aramus guarauna, feeds almost exclusively on apple snails, which it extracts from their shells with its long bill. The Limpkin's bill is uniquely adapted to foraging on apple snails. The closed bill has a gap just before the tip that makes the bill act like tweezers. The tip itself is often curved slightly to the right so it can be slipped into the right-handed chamber of the snail. Searches visually for snails in clear water, or by jabbing or sweeping with bill. It turns the snail shell opening upward, cuts through the muscle attachment, and pulls out the snail. Extraction takes about 10 to 20 seconds; the shell is rarely broken."

Yesterday, I watched a Limpkin for a considerable time capturing apple snails. It would search along the stems of underwater plants until it found a snail, then it would wade to the shore and lay the snail on the ground, extract the meat from the shell, only to return to the water and repeat the whole process again.

LimpkinSnail_5825.jpg

Limpkin_5826.jpg

Limpkin_5834.jpg

Limpkin_5836.jpg

Comments

Sign In or Register to comment.