I would have responded sooner but just returned from a birding trip to Ireland. Not many new birds but lots of interesting sights and fun. I tend to agree with SeEtta on the blue jay. However, Roy's bird in Lake Manyara I suspect may have been a Black Heron and not a ibis. In that case, I have seen Black Herons feed a number of times in Kenya and Tanzania where if forms sort of a canopy with its wings. According to Terry Stevenson's Birds of Kenya, they do that while feeding possibly to reduce reflection or to attract food by creating a shading area from the warm sun. Wayne Wathen
Date: Thu, 5 Nov 2009 17:59:45 -0700 Subject: [cobirds] Re: Blue Jay behavior From: [email protected] To: [email protected] CC: [email protected] If the location was in the sun, I would suspect the jay was engaged in sunning behavior which many species engage in. SeEtta Moss On Thu, Nov 5, 2009 at 9:45 AM, Hugh and Urling Kingery <[email protected]> wrote: Roy Hohn posed what he calls "A strange behavior question." Do any Cobirders have theories about this kind of behavior? Hugh Kingery "On August 21 I watched a blue jay land on the mulch in our back yard. It spread its tail and wings, like it was making a tent, and ducked its head beneath the wings. It stayed motionless for about 30 seconds and then flew away. A few minutes later I watched a repeat of the same behavior. We saw a similar behavior at Lake Manyara in Tanzania, with an ibis (I think it was an ibis.) But the ibis was in shallow water and using the behavior as a strategy to catch fish and small critters in the water. What was the blue jay doing? I walked back and examined the area later, but saw nothing unusual - like a colony of ants or some other insects it could eat." Roy Hohn [email protected] suburban Centennial, near Arapahoe and Colorado Blvd. --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ Colorado Field Ornithologists: http://www.cfo-link.org/ Colorado County Birding: http://www.coloradocountybirding.com/ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Colorado Birds" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.as/group/cobirds?hl=en -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~--- -- Colorado Field Ornithologists: http://www.cfo-link.org/ Colorado County Birding: http://www.coloradocountybirding.com/ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Colorado Birds" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.as/group/cobirds?hl=en
