Hello!
I am a Snail Kite. I live in southwest Florida, not too far from Fort Myers and the Gulf Coast. This post is a bit about me, and what I did yesterday morning for the first hour after sunrise.
Check out my awesome hooked bill. I use it to eat my favorite food: apple snails. I love me some snails!
This is my home: Harns Marsh.
I live here with my bird buddies, including a whole herd of Limpkins. Limpkins are dang noisy this time of year, filling the whole marsh with their spooky courtship yodeling. Here are two Limpkins that I sometimes hang out with:
The first thing I did after I woke up was to get breakfast. I chose an apple snail. That’s what I have for breakfast every morning. First, I snagged one out of the marsh and took it up to my feeding wire.
Then I used my fancy bill to pull the juicy snail right out of its shell. I don’t need the shell anymore, so I just dropped it into my shell collection which I keep down below my perch.
Then I gobbled up the snail meat. Yum! Tastes kinda like chicken.
After breakfast, I saw that my lady friend was nearby, so I went over for a quick visit.
We’re expecting baby kitelets later this spring. Then I flew around the canal area a bit, showing off for this crazy bird watcher. I got tired, so I landed in one of my favorite trees. But I forgot that this mockingbird was building a nest nearby. He got all up in my grill, and kept dive-bombing me until I backed off.
Stupid mockingbird. I don’t eat mockingbird babies! I only eat apple snails. Mmmm, snails… maybe I should get a few more for a snack? Then later on I’ll swing my and visit my friend, the Burrowing Owl, to see if he’s in a better mood than yesterday.
Nope, I guess he’s still pissed about the old “apple snail shell down the owl burrow” trick. Heh heh, that was a good one, though.
Periodic Wanderings 