Friday 24 June 2011

Muscular Work


Whilst enjoying a peaceful walk in the Bamboo Gardens located alongside the tidal estuary at Glengarriff in County Cork, the calm was suddenly shattered by a commotion taking place just over the sea wall.

An investigation revealed a young hooded crow harassing it's parent to hurry with the next meal, on this occasion being fresh mussels. As we know only too well, the slightest knock to a juicy, healthy mussel will cause it to shut tight. This was the case here too and so dinner was still a little wait away for this hungry bird.

We watched whilst the parent, mussel in beak, carried out a 'jump-jet' vertical take-off above the rocky perch, rising up a couple of feet before letting go of the chosen mollusc thus bouncing it onto the rock in attempt to satisfy the youngster with their version of haute-cuisine. This action was carried out four or five times, until the shell finally shattered and the prized flesh was revealed for the picking.

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