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Thread: Bluebird sunbathing

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    Default Bluebird sunbathing

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    This is a large crop but thought it was interesting to show how this male bluebird sprawled out on the log to get some sun. The sun was in and out all day along with light showers. I was watching this male when he jumped down and spread his wings for about 30 seconds. Not a great picture but interesting behavior, at least to me.

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    BPN Member Paul Lagasi's Avatar
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    Its an interesting pose, lots of birds do this to rid themselves of parasites, not sure if thats the case here but with the fluffed up back feathers it sure looks like it. Thank for sharing

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    Neat to see Roy and Paul has it! Birds do this for several reasons but the common-denominator usually involves parasite removal. "Anting" is where a bird purposely lays in an ant nest or ant area and allows the ants to crawl all over the body removing ectoparasites like feather lice, ticks etc. Having said this, I will say that solid evidence for this function is lacking. Dark-coloured birds also sunbathe to raise the temperature of their plumage to a level lethal to ecoparasites. This has been proven for dark-coloured species such as noddies (a tropical tern-like seabird).

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    BPN Viewer Jeff Cashdollar's Avatar
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    This is a great day in the life story. I would say he is sunning but as noted other options are possible. Thanks for sharing, I love seeing shots like this. The day to day things we see birds do - that is what really fascinates me.

    Thanks for sharing.

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    But what is "sunning" for Jeff? Evolution produces these behaviours for a reason, and in this case I doubt that the bird is motivated the same way humans are when they go to the beach! In the early morning birds will expose themselves optimally to the sun to warm up, but often sunning is done in the heat of the day. Not sure when this image was made.

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    BPN Viewer Jeff Cashdollar's Avatar
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    I assume Roy was taking about drying the wings which as you mentioned is a normal behavior. I do not see any ants or other such insects in the image but the shadow is strong under the tail and wings.

    Just a note, I have been trying to photograph a Bluebird. I need to spend more time tracking and monitoring some local areas. I love this species but do not have many images to share - nice job Roy.
    Last edited by Jeff Cashdollar; 06-26-2011 at 04:11 PM.

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    That's a good thought Jeff- drying out the plumage. Northern hemisphere cormorants do it because when they dive, their plumage does not repel all the water and becomes wet. This helps them to dive by reducing buoyancy. Not sure if drying out explains this behaviour in landbirds but it is an hypothesis that could be tested.

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