OT - Blackbird seems to be sunbathing!
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. -- Chris |
OT - Blackbird seems to be sunbathing!
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 |
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