I showed you our giant snails in a previous blog http://bukobasteve.blogspot.com/2010/08/rain-and-wildlife.html. With all the rain in recent months we don't really notice them any more. I doubt if the fully grown individuals have too many enemies. Few animals would be able to get through the hard shells. However, they don't start life as monsters. Recently we have had quite a few small, baby snails creeping around. The largest is about the size of a half-grown snail you might find in a garden in Victoria after rain. Thankfully (or we'd be knee-deep in monster snails) these smaller versions are readily available, easy to get at and apparently delicious.
A Crested Barbet has recently taken to having breakfast on our garden wall. The top of the wall is hard and rough - just perfect for smashing snail shells and holding them still while you extract the beast. Tonight I watched a normally shy White-browed Coucal snacking on snails in the garden. Its beak is large enough to do the cracking and dexterous enough to get the prize.
Bukoba
1 February 2011
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Paul tells me that Bob (his partner in crime .... er ... service station) sat on the doorstep of the temporary office/hut and watched a Falcon dive down and kill and take an Indian Miner. Well done that Falcon!
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