Bomb Shell

I was on my way to Botanical Gardens last Friday for the lecture on Mangrove Insects. Unfortunately, I am not a frequent visitor here and ended up stopping at the other end of it. After walking aimlessly in big detour covered in sweat and realising that I started in at the opposite end, I decided to turn back since dark clouds were looming over me.

I was trying to enjoy the scenery and not to be too pissed about myself when I saw an Asian Glossy Starling (Aplonis panayensis) flying over me and then perching on a tree branch. It was holding something between it’s beak and I dismissed it as some nesting material and walked on.

Suddenly, the bird flew, this time in front of me and dropped the object on the road. Making a U turn, it landed and was seemingly investigating it when it flew away, probably startled by my presence.

I went forward for a closer look and realised that it was a common land snail (Quantula striata). So the bird was trying to break open the shell to feed on the soft body. Though I’m not surprised to see it doing that, but its still interesting to see it first-hand.