I was looking out the kitchen window when I noticed large white blobs appearing and disappearing in a couple of small trees in the yard. Turned out to be 6 MOURNING DOVES. It's raining, temp. = 54 deg. Each would extend the wing on one side almost fully, turn slightly on a branch so that the rain would hit the side of the body that was under the wing, and maybe even the wing underside, and hold that pose for up to 10 seconds. They would alternate wings and body sides. Once returned to a normal position, they would sometimes preen under the wing just raised and lowered. I wash my armpits like that in the shower, but have never seen birds do so.
Steve Fast Brooktondale -- 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/cayugabirds-l@cornell.edu/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/ --
