Our red-tailed hawk chicks are sooo close to fledging now! I’ve been told that the tree-nesting raptors usually first leave the nest to hop around on branches; hence they’re called “branchers.” This afternoon I watched the chicks and was able to catch some of the maneuvering, which included hopping around the edge of the nest.
One of the chicks seems more adventurous than the other. I know that female raptors are larger than males, so I think that males reach their fledging size sooner than their sisters. Which would mean that this earnest almost-brancher is a boy. He’ll be flying soon!
Answer: When it’s a snail! Yes, there are snails that secrete and live in white calcareous tubes that look very similar to those of serpulid polychaete worms. Here, see for yourself:
The worms secrete calcareous tubes that snake over whatever surface they’re attached to. When the worm is relaxed, it extends its delicate pinnate feeding tentacles and uses them to capture small particles to eat; they are what we call suspension feeders.
But there are gastropods that secrete calcareous tubes, too. They are the vermetid snails, the local species of which is Thylacodes squamigerus. This is one of my favorite animals in the low intertidal, probably because it is so delightfully un-snail-like.
There are three individuals of T. squamigerus in this photo:
Thylacodes is also a suspension feeder, but it gathers food in a very different way. When submerged, it spins out some sticky mucus threads that catch suspended particles, then reels in the threads and eats them.
So how would you tell these animals apart if you see them? Here’s a hint: Look at the tubes themselves.
I invite you to use the comments section to tell me how you’d distinguish between Serpula and Thylacodes.
