Thank you all for your replies (here and directly to me) and the references. I love that feather-play is a "swallow thing." The one I watched varied its game, swooping in from all angles and approaches. Twice it flew almost straight upwards until it was perhaps fifty feet off the ground before releasing the feather.
I'm intrigued by the fact that one of the earlier reports also specifies a large *white* feather; my guess is that, like yesterday's, it was a down feather, which would float in the air much more satisfactorily than a denser one. I write essays on nature for a local Audubon Society. I think my next piece will focus on bird play! Thanks again-- Joe On Sat, Jun 5, 2021 at 11:34 PM Brendan Fogarty <bn...@cornell.edu> wrote: > Joseph and all, > > This behavior seems familiar, but I cannot say if I have seen it before in > person or in media. It is definitely documented; below is an excerpt from > Birds of the World online. > > "In Britain, 3 juveniles were observed apparently playing with large white > feather while in flight, repeatedly dropping it and catching it before it > reached the ground (1). Adults are also known to exhibit this same > behavior (2)." > > 1. Thompson, B. G. (1990). Behaviour of Swallows with feather. British > Birds 83:239 > > 2. Turner, A. K. (2004). Family Hirundinidae (Swallows and Martins). In > Handbook of the Birds of the World, Volume 9: Cotingas to Pipits and > Wagtails (J. del Hoyo, A. Elliott, and D. A. Cristie, Editors), Lynx > Edicions, Barcelona, Spain. > > Best, > Brendan Fogarty > > > On Sat, Jun 5, 2021 at 11:23 PM Ardith Bondi <ard...@earthlink.net> wrote: > >> That is very cool! This is not exactly the same, but I was photographing >> a Tree Swallow at Oceanside Marine Nature Study Area on Long Island last >> Tuesday with a 500 mm PF lens (think, short and light for a 500mm) on a >> Nikon D850 with a very loud shutter. I suddenly realized that the swallow >> was singing in response to the shutter. The more I pressed it, the more the >> bird sang. I tried a varied pattern to test it. When I finally stopped, the >> bird waited a second and then flew off. I had never experienced that >> before, either. I have watched penguins play in Antarctica. Penguins climb >> up on things and jump off them just for fun. They’ll even do it with a >> buddy. >> >> Ardith Bondi >> NYC >> www.ardithbondi.com >> >> Sent from my iPhone >> >> On Jun 5, 2021, at 10:04 PM, Joseph Wallace <joew...@gmail.com> wrote: >> >> >> >> This is more about bird behavior than rarity, so apologies if it's o/t, >> but I watched a swallow engage in extraordinary (to me) behavior at Croton >> Point Park in Westchester today. It started when I spotted something white >> drifting slowly towards the ground: a large, downy feather. Just as I >> focused on it, a Barn Swallow snatched it out of the air with its beak. I >> expected the bird to head off to its nest, but instead it dropped the >> feather...and then circled and snatched it out of the air again. >> >> For the next few minutes, I watched the swallow repeatedly release the >> feather, do wide loops around it--sometimes feinting in its direction--and >> then pluck it out of the air. Twice it let the feather land on the grass, >> retrieving it once while on the wing and once by landing beside it. Finally >> the swallow did head off, I imagine to line its nest at last. >> >> I'd never seen swallows engage in play, but I can't see how this was >> anything else. Has anyone else here ever witnessed something like this? >> Thanks--Joe Wallace >> -- >> *NYSbirds-L List Info:* >> Welcome and Basics <http://www.northeastbirding.com/NYSbirdsWELCOME.htm> >> Rules and Information <http://www.northeastbirding.com/NYSbirdsRULES.htm> >> Subscribe, Configuration and Leave >> <http://www.northeastbirding.com/NYSbirdsSubscribeConfigurationLeave.htm> >> *Archives:* >> The Mail Archive >> <http://www.mail-archive.com/nysbirds-l@cornell.edu/maillist.html> >> Surfbirds <http://www.surfbirds.com/birdingmail/Group/NYSBirds-L> >> ABA <http://birding.aba.org/maillist/NY01> >> *Please submit your observations to **eBird* >> <http://ebird.org/content/ebird/>*!* >> -- >> >> -- >> *NYSbirds-L List Info:* >> Welcome and Basics <http://www.northeastbirding.com/NYSbirdsWELCOME.htm> >> Rules and Information <http://www.northeastbirding.com/NYSbirdsRULES.htm> >> Subscribe, Configuration and Leave >> <http://www.northeastbirding.com/NYSbirdsSubscribeConfigurationLeave.htm> >> *Archives:* >> The Mail Archive >> <http://www.mail-archive.com/nysbirds-l@cornell.edu/maillist.html> >> Surfbirds <http://www.surfbirds.com/birdingmail/Group/NYSBirds-L> >> ABA <http://birding.aba.org/maillist/NY01> >> *Please submit your observations to **eBird* >> <http://ebird.org/content/ebird/>*!* >> -- >> > -- NYSbirds-L List Info: http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NYSbirdsWELCOME.htm http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NYSbirdsRULES.htm http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NYSbirdsSubscribeConfigurationLeave.htm ARCHIVES: 1) http://www.mail-archive.com/nysbirds-l@cornell.edu/maillist.html 2) http://www.surfbirds.com/birdingmail/Group/NYSBirds-L 3) http://birding.aba.org/maillist/NY01 Please submit your observations to eBird: http://ebird.org/content/ebird/ --
