The Mystery of the Massacred Molluscs

Yay!! I got to go for a walk down to the shoreline today. The tide was super low - way lower than it has been since we got here. Wait, Mama says it has been that low, just at night when I'm fast asleep. Anyhow... this is the lowest it's been during the daytime since we've been here!

I was happily wandering the beach when I came across this... a huge pile of seashells...

They are oyster shells (molluscs). Some of the shells still had bits of their innards still attached. This looks like a massacre to me! Someone ate all these oysters... who could it be?

This calls for Sherlock Sandy!! I put on my virtual deerstalker hat and went off to investigate.

First... interview some potential witnesses... and possibly uncover the massacre suspect! (I have to be careful typing that word because Mama says massacre and masscara look a lot alike but are beary different!)

This oyster wasn't home when I came by... he might have been a casualty too!

These guys were all still home, tucked up snug in their shells. None of them wanted to talk to me... possibly out of fear of retribution from the unknown perpetrator of the massacre!

Oh, here's a big crowd of starfish having a conference... They all said they hadn't seen anything (starfish don't really have eyes so that makes sense).

Mind you, this starfish has one of his legs in an oyster shell which made me a little bit suspicious!

Oh wait!! There are a couple of witnesses out there! They definitely have eyes and they can have a birds-eye view of things...

Mind you... this guy looks a bit suspicious... with his head and neck tucked down... Hmmm, that is an awfully long beak he has... would be great for prying open oyster shells!

But I need more than my suspicions... So let's see if anybody's home in these little holes.

Ah-hah!!! That big old heron took off! That definitely looks suspicious... avoiding my keen questioning and fleeing the scene of the crime...

Oh, the little holes - only had little gastropods in them... they didn't see anything either as they are usually tucked down into their burrows.

And here are a whole crowd of witnesses! They were kind of clammed-up to start with but then I heard a faint whisper from one of them... "watch the bird"... Well, I already figured it was that heron thing but... then I heard another whisper... "the white bird"... Huh?? The seagull???

So I hunkered down behind a driftwood log with Mama's super-duper point-and-shoot camera on zoom and watched the bird... OH!!! Do you see him??? He just picked something out of the shallows and dumped it on the beach... It looks like... it looks like...

He's eating something!!! My goodness... it's the seagull!! He is the perpetrator of the Mollusc Massacre! Wow... who would have thunk it???

Well there you have it, another case successfully closed for Sherlock Sandy! Onwards to the next case!