Snail Kite, Lake Marian, Florida
(click image to view larger)
With the catch of the day in it's talons, this immature Snail Kite certainly learned quickly how to hunt for Apple Snails. There was also a banded and satellite transmitter equipped female foraging in the same area that, if I had to guess, was probably this bird's mother. This catch was by far the largest snail by either of them while I was there. Here's a bonus shot after the snail was extracted and the shell discarded.
Lake Marian is southeast of Orlando and one of the "3 lakes" of Three Lakes Wildlife Management Area. These kites were seen near the Lake Marian Marina south of the WMA; another location to look for them is at Joe Overstreet Landing north of the WMA. In addition to kites, within the WMA you can look for endangered Red-cockaded Woodpeckers and, on a lucky day, you might see some of the non-migratory population of reintroduced Whooping Cranes near Overstreet Landing. Check out the Great Florida Birding Trail (East Section) for more info if you're heading to Florida.
Hi,
My bet is you make that 400 by the end of October. Nice to see the shot of the Snail Kite, for a couple of reasons. First, because it's a knock out photo. Second, because it leads to the next photo, of this juvenile bird being able to extract the snail from this shell. This is one of the exotic species of apple snail that is fast displacing the smaller, native species in lakes and water bodies all over Florida. We had a specialist from FWC do a program about aquatic life. He expressed the fear that our native birds, the snail specialists in particular, like Limpkin and Snail Kite, might not be able to adapt to feeding on these much larger snails as they displace the native species. Your photo proves not only that they can but their young are adept at it too. So this invasive, exotic species might just be a very good thing for these birds whose numbers were in decline. These snails are 2 to 3 times the weight of the natives, so there's a lot more protein per feeding attempt. Therefore, there's a higher survival rate. Maybe it helps explain why we saw that Snail Kite when we were on our way back from the Swallow-tailed Kite roost several years ago. More birds means a need to expand the range back into areas where they nested a century or more ago. Let's hope so.
Hi David, Getting to 400 by the end of October would nice, but I'm going to have to scare up a Golden-crowned Kinglet, maybe a MacGillvray's Warbler and/or a Nashville migrating through. Add a Tundra Swan, pretty much a "gimme" as I said in the post, from one of the refuges in the northern half of the state and I'd be much closer. Have to look at the state checklist again, but I'm pretty sure I have all the regularly occurring waterfowl species and by then it would probably be too late for any shorebird migrants I could use. Cautiously optimistic.
As far as the snails go, clearly the kites can manage the larger snails. The kites hold them with their feet and use that specially "designed" bill to extract the meaty part, but one has to wonder about the Limpkin. The only time I've seen them eating Apple Snails they were pounding them with the the tip of their bill to break the shell apart. If the shells are too thick on the invasive variety, I suppose it's possible they can't break them. Just wild speculation on my part, though.