On Wednesday, the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department posted photos on social media of a "very rare sighting" in Texas. 

"A Snail Kite has been spotted at Lake Somerville State Park," the agency wrote. "This raptor is a very rare sighting in Texas. They are common in Central and South America but in the U.S., they are normally only seen in Florida." 

The bird's name is derived from the fact that it only preys on and feeds on apple snails. The birds fly slowly and low over fields in order to spot snails, according to the National Audubon Society.

The Florida population of Snail Kites is listed as endangered due to the disruption of water flow and its impact on the bird's habitat and snail populations. An invasive species of snail has also recently established itself in Florida, with the impact on snail kites currently unknown, the national society said. 

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The bird is found in fresh marshes and canals as well as large freshwater lakes in Florida. In the American tropics, the bird is also found in wet savannahs, rice fields and sugarcane fields where snails may be populous. 

During times of scarcity of large snails, including during droughts, the bird may eat small turtles, small snails, rodents and crabs, although they do so rarely. 

According to the TPWD, multiple types of kites can be found in Texas, including more common kite species like Swallow-tailed, Mississippi and White-tailed kites. A fourth, the hook-billed kite, is found only along the Lower Rio Grande Valley. 

The snail kite has been spotted in Texas once or twice before and is considered an accidental, meaning a species that has appeared in a given area only a few times and whose normal range is in another area. 

shepard.price@express-news.net