At first, I thought it was playing with a little ball, as he chucked it down in front of him.
And then the long wait, until the snail came out of its shell (4 shots). Then I will show you what the crows do on a strong windy day (6 shots).
I can tell you that patience always seems to work for me. For instance, if I had not waited for the Hadeda to eat the snail, then I would not have gotten him on camera eating the snail. I am not a click and run man, as it just doesn't work in nature. Wildlife, or should I say most wildlife, will scatter when they see fast movements, and sometimes when necessary, I creep up slowly to get the target. I call it my ghostly walk. Lol. So, let's watch the Hadeda show.
Yay! After the long wait the snail started to emerge from its shell and the Hadeda grabbed it by its body.
You can see a part of the body, I think its the head and the neck, of the snail hanging out of the shell.
And then, finally, the Hadeda crushed the snail and swallowed it.
It happened very fast and sadly I couldn't get the swallowing part on camera. The thing is that I have seen the hadedas almost every day, and I have so many photos of them that they have become boring. But something told me to watch this hadeda and it was an amazing experience. The hadedas are tough characters, as I thought he would at least spit the parts of the shell out, but no go, as he just swallowed the whole lot. Who knows, maybe he was scared when he got the snail in his beak that it might escape.
Now I will show you what the crows do early morning with a strong cold wind blowing.
This was the dad, and he was searching for some food to feed their baby. You can see how the wind lifted his feathers. The crows will fly in very strong winds, but in this case, they had the youngster to think about, and it was still too early for them to fly. They are very strong flyers, and I remember very well how we saved a youngster as the rain caught up with him and he landed in the garden of a neighbour, who called me to fetch him. At first, we dried him and then I kept him in our rescue cage overnight to set him free the next morning. I know many people don't like crows, as they see them as messengers of death, but fortunately we are not superstitious and we love them.
That was the youngster on a tree stump, and you can see that he is getting cold.
It was a north easterly wind running at about 75km's, so he sat behind the trunk of the tree to block the wind.
The first time for me to see a crow lying down, so you can imagine how cold and windy it was as the wind came in over the Atlantic Ocean.
Finally, there was the mother higher up in the tree on a branch.
It is an amazing thought about the birds coping in their lives. Whether it is eating, like the hadeda, or protecting themselves, like the crows. I think all birds big and small have this habit. Like the ants, the birds can also read the weather. Ants disappear deep into the ground a day before it rains. And we know that because two days before the rain we have many ants coming into our kitchen looking for crumbs or food, but I can tell you that when the water comes down you will not see an ant anywhere. The birds are the same, as they are also busier eating a short while before a storm, but just before the storm hits, they disappear into their hiding places. Such is life.
I hope you enjoyed the pictures and the story.
Photos and words by Zac Smith. No AI and no Photoshop. All-Rights-Reserved.
Camera: Canon PowershotSX70HS Bridge camera.
Until next time. Shalom!
