Thanks for the responses and ideas about the flattening Gnatcatcher. Here are two images gleaned from Google searches like "bird flatten behavior" that look very similar to what I witnessed, but with 2 other species entirely:
http://www.dpreview.com/forums/post/51562852 http://www.flickr.com/photos/hopsmaltyeast/4607003205/ There doesn't seem to be an obvious pattern here. In the Bewick Wren's case, it could have been a camouflage attempt. I was wondering if maybe the Gnatcatcher was actually using the hot bark mulch to 'cook' parasites. It did choose the hot sunny part of the trail when there were cooler shaded parts only 10' in either direction. So the wing spreading, feather fluffing, and open mouth may have been to help dissipate body heat while concentrating heat on the belly fat. ChrisP ______________________ 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/ --
