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Was out at Tidbinbilla wetlands today. For about 20
minutes watched a lone male Musk Duck napping. With tail up and splayed, he
turned his head to rest on his back between his wings. Through binos could see
that his eyes closed though he was clearly conscious of his surrounds raising
his head whenever other waterfowl got noisy.
What interested me was how he stayed roughly in the
same spot in the water. Whilst his head was clearly at rest between his wings,
the wings appeared to be "flicking" lightly, one more than the other. So as the
bird seemed at rest one of the wings in particular flicked up and down as the
position in the pond was maintained. My question is whether the more frequent
flicking of one wing reflected some kind of movement of the legs thereby keeping
the bird circling in the water close to the same spot?
And if this is an accurate reflection of what was
going on, is this behaviour instinctive or anatomically created (as in when a
bird sinks down to rest it locks its feet around its perch by virtue of the
anatomy of its legs)?
Cheers
Shaun
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