I just took a brief lunchtime walk on the northern part of Wilson Trail at SSW. I saw a small bird flit to a low shrub only 10-12' from me, got on it and ID'd it as a BLUE-GRAY GNATCATCHER.
Then, it flew down to the bark mulch in full sun, spread its wings and wing feathers as wide as possible, pressed its belly to the mulch and flattened its wings on the mulch, fluffed up all its back feathers, opened its mouth wide. Sat there for 15 seconds or so. Hopped up into a bush for 15 sec or so, then repeated the spreadeagle (spreadgnatcatcher, I guess) in a different spot. I thought the first time it might be 'anting', the behavior I've heard of (correct me if this is an old wive's tale) of some birds letting ants bite them to get the formic acid rush which either repels parasites or feels better than the parasites themselves. But when I walked forward I saw no ants or anthills or holes at the spots the bird had just used. No other birds obviously nearby so not apparently a display. Ideas? ______________________ Chris Pelkie Research Analyst Bioacoustics Research Program Cornell Lab of Ornithology 159 Sapsucker Woods Road Ithaca, NY 14850 -- Cayugabirds-L List Info: http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsWELCOME http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsRULES http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsSubscribeConfigurationLeave.htm ARCHIVES: 1) http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/maillist.html 2) http://www.surfbirds.com/birdingmail/Group/Cayugabirds 3) http://birdingonthe.net/mailinglists/CAYU.html Please submit your observations to eBird: http://ebird.org/content/ebird/ --
