Invasive Tropical Bird Has Invaded Illinois Because of Bad Snails

This reminds me of the nursery rhyme about the man who swallowed the spider to catch a fly. In this case, it's the reportedly true story of invasive tropical birds that have been spotted in Illinois and it's all because of bad snails.

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I saw a share on the Illinois sub-Reddit of a story by the Chicago Tribune. It's a report about an "invasion" of invasive tropical birds known as limpkins. Never heard of a limpkin? Join the club. I hadn't either until I found this.

All About Birds says that you'll naturally find limpkins in Florida where they belong. They do not belong in Illinois, but here we are. The Chicago Tribune story says that the invasive limpkins are after invasive snails in Illinois.

That begs the question "do 2 wrongs make a right"? Asking for a friend.

I'm not sure what harm limpkins can do to the Illinois ecosystem since they're reportedly helping rid the state of invasive snails, but I'm neither an expert on limpkins or snails. Hmm.

The word is limpkins are here and because of them there may not be as many invasive snails in Illinois much longer. I'm choosing to take this as good news.