Which raptor is famous for eating apple snails almost exclusively?

The snail kite is famous for eating apple snails almost exclusively.

This specialized raptor lives in wetlands of the Americas, where it searches for large freshwater snails. It grips a snail with its feet, carries it to a perch, and uses its strongly curved bill to extract the soft body from the shell.

The bird’s narrow ecological specialization makes it highly dependent on healthy marshes, lakes, and slow-moving waterways. Changes in water levels, wetland drainage, and declines in its snail prey can therefore affect local populations.

The snail kite is not the only bird that eats snails, but its diet and bill are unusually specialized for this purpose. The hook-billed kite also eats snails and has a similarly adapted bill, yet it is a separate species with a broader geographic and ecological profile.