I've got photographs aplenty, shell alone and even some with snails plodding along, their antennae probing the air and their beady eyes looking about. I've even captured a couple videos, which as you might guess, are somewhat akin to watching paint dry.
A 30-second video doesn't even allow time for a snail to move from one side of the camera to the other.
But strangely enough, these snails were found on a sidewalk, most active, not unsurprisingly, when temperatures were cool and conditions damp. However, even on some warmer mornings, the snails were moving about, or at least had exposed their softer side, reaching out from the protection of their shells and moving about.
What they're looking for is entirely uncertain. I have no clue if its for food, reproduction or simply migration.
Perhaps snails head north for the winter. You know, like a few inches.
Or perhaps, its an even curiouser case of an old dilemma: Why did the snail cross the sidewalk? A road, of course, would be much too wide, and their losses staggering as they certainly can't run from oncoming tires, even if those tires are small wheels attached to walkers used by senior citizens.
I did show my wife one of the videos, and I could barely hold her attention for half of the half-minute video, as she rightly noted that it was much less than riveting. She declined to watch my second video, or browse through my catalog of snail photos.
I'm at a loss to explain her reluctance, of course.
Despite all uncertainty and the lukewarm interest I've gotten, I continue to paus during my timed morning walks, to kneel down to photograph these snails.
Then I've dutifully returned home, with photos in hand (so to speak), and looked up details about snails in Kansas.
I've read an Emporia State University publication, and perused a booklet available online from the Great Plains Nature Center in Wichita.
I still have no clue what I've found, other than it's a snail. A small one.
Instead, I should have carried more equipment, per the ESU guide.
"This system of identification of identifying Kansas land snails and slugs uses the major features of the shell to get you down to a smaller group of likely species. Then by using the individual species descriptions, it should be possible to get to a single species or a group of snails. In some cases, a good magnifier will be needed."
But then I learned: "The major features to be used are: (1) the shape of the shell, (2) the type of umbilicus, (3) the edge of the outer lip of the aperture, (4) the presence/absence of various teeth in the aperture, and (5) the presence of shell surface features like ridges."
I confess, I didn't even know snails had teeth. Or a lip for that matter.
I get the idea of ridges. I mean, even Ruffles have ridges, but who knew about snails?
Suffice it to say, it's unlikely I'm going to determine just what kind of snail has attracted my attention, and I suppose in the grand scheme of things, it doesn't really matter.
Instead, what matters is being outdoors, watching the grandeur of nature, even down the smallest of snails, if that's even a correct statement.
I walk outdoors for a single reason. It's outdoors and I can watch one of my favorite things: nature, be it trees, green june bugs, a lone Canada good or frolicking white-tailed deer. I'll likely even walk outdoors during the winter months, but I'm sure a lot of wildlife will be tucked safely away, either at distant locations or, as in the case of my snails, somewhere nice and deep and relatively warm.
Of course, I'll dress warmer as well.
The Emporia State University guide can be found at: https://kansasmollusks.wordpress.com/3-identifying-kansas-land-snails/
The Great Plains Nature Center pocket guide for snails, along wth a broad cross-section of Kansas wildlife can be found and downloaded at no charge at: http://gpnc.org/gift-shop/publications/
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