Thanks Philip. That makes sense - the undersurface of the raised wing was
angled towards the sun. I just thought it was interesting that only one bird
in the flock was engaged in the behaviour at the time. Perhaps they also
engage in this behaviour while bathing in the rain, as observed by Carl.
It could also potentially be used for evaporative cooling on a very hot day,
i.e. loss of heat from blood vessels close to the surface of the skin on the
undersurface of the wing (thermal window).
Stephen Ambrose
Ryde NSW
-----Original Message-----
From:
On Behalf Of Philip Veerman
Sent: Sunday, 19 September 2010 2:49 PM
To: 'birding-aus'
Subject: Crested Pigeon Wing Display
I've seen this sort of thing several times, no doubt so have others.
Page 241 of Frith's book Pigeons and Doves of Australia illustrates it
and calls it sun-bathing. Odd that HANZAB would not mention it..........
Philip Veerman
24 Castley Circuit
Kambah ACT 2902
02 - 62314041
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