I was at Heirman Park again, actually twice today. ( I only live 6.1 miles
away) I was standing still waiting for a yellowthroat to show itself when
from behind me in the grass I heard, rustle rustle crunch crunch, rustle
rustle crunch. There was a log, mostly concealed in the grass and as I took
a couple of steps toward it a weasel popped its head above the log. It had a
snail in its little paws, and as it eyed me, it took a crunchy bite, sort
like eating a taco. Then it bounded off. The north underside of the log was
COVERED with snails, Ancotrema sportella to be exact. There were dozens.
Maybe even a hundred. Later I thought about counting them. I hiked on and
when I came back, I thought I'd check it out again so I snuck up as quietly
as I could, hunched over low, deer stepping each foot, and as I got close,
WHOOSH! a bittern scared the bejesus out of me by flying up almost in my
face. It had been standing there watching me approach, completely cryptic in
the grass, probably wondering, what in the world is this guy doing? Once I
got my heart out of my throat I noticed there were several empty snail
shells around the base of the log and I couldn't remember if they has been
there before or not. Then as I was hiking back my car I tried to imagine
how a bittern would get a snail ouf of its shell. It was raining and I
noticed a fair number of snails, all heading across the gravel road in the
same direction. Why did the snail cross the road? Why were there so many on
the log? Do bitterns eat lots of snails? Do weasels? I am supposed to be
writing about geology this evening and I keep thinking about damned snails.
Sigh....the trials of the naturalist.

Rob Sandelin
South Snohomish County at the headwaters of Ricci Creek
Sky Valley Environments <http://www.nonprofitpages.com/nica/SVE.htm>
Field skills training for student naturalists
Floriferous at msn.com



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