In article ], Chris ]
writes
This morning I saw a blackbird lying quite still, on its tummy, flat on
the ground, with its wings stretched out. Why might it be doing that?
Time was about 10 AM and weather sunny and hot.

It was sunbathing! This is well-known behaviour by a wide range of
birds. The effect of the sun is not only to warm them, and to dry the
plumage if they have been bathing in water (which your Blackbird might
have been doing), but there is the additional effect that strong
sunlight has been shown to help in restoring feathers, that might have
become disarranged through flight or when the bird is pushing its way
into bushes to reach the nest, to their original shape. Keeping feathers
in good order, through preening, bathing and sunbathing, occupies a
considerable part of a bird's life. And necessarily so.

In addition, some birds may sometimes spread their wings like that over
the top of ants' nests, though it is a little early in the summer for
this to occur. It is believed that the ants help rid the bird of feather
parasites.

--
Malcolm