Feather lice presumably prefer the temperature and the humidity under closed wings. I’ve seen this behaviour often and assume the bird is attempting to kill lice or get them to jump ship by temporarily overheating and drying out its feathers.
It certainly looks as though the bird has chosen the warmest spot available.
This reference suggests the same:
Hot, Bothered, and Parasite-free: Why Birds Sun Themselves | Audubon
Alison R
From: Canberrabirds <>
On Behalf Of Gordon
Sent: Saturday, 29 October 2022 1:36 PM
To: Philip Veerman <>; 'Graham Gall' <>
Cc:
Subject: Re: [Canberrabirds] magpie playing dead
I don’t think it is ‘anting’ as described by Graham as there are no ants observable in the locations the magpie lays and the bird is perfectly still with no dust bathing movements.
Cheers
Gordon
The word “anting” is (I would suggest) best applied to the birds using ants. Otherwise it is telling interpretation that might not be correct. But it is also used
as a general term. The photo and description appears to be just sunning behaviour, that magpies often do. (As do many other bird species). It is not sick or taking a nap. Very likely though that the behaviours and the words are all sort of achieving the same
thing.
Philip
From: Canberrabirds
On Behalf Of Graham Gall
Sent: Saturday, 29 October, 2022 12:49 PM
To: Gordon
Cc:
Subject: Re: [Canberrabirds] magpie playing dead
Yes it’s ‘anting’ Gordon.
Description
Anting is a maintenance behavior during which birds rub insects, usually ants, on their feathers and skin. The bird may pick up the insects in its
bill and rub them on the body, or the bird may lie in an area of high density of the insects and perform dust bathing-like movements.
On 29 Oct 2022, at 12:31 pm, Gordon <> wrote:
Can someone tell me what this magpie is doing? We have a couple of friendly magpies around our house that we regularly feed. I have noticed recently that a magpie (I am not sure if it is the same one) will flop on the ground, as in the
attached photo, for about 10 minutes and then get up and fly off. It does this in different spots in the garden but always in the sun. Sometimes it will just lean against the brick wall with its wings down. Is it sunbaking or taking a nap? I hope it isn’t
sick.
Thanks
Gordon McAllister
--
This is the email announcement and discussion list of the Canberra Ornithologists Group.
Emails posted to the list that exceed 2 MB (2,000 kB) in size, including attachments, will be rejected.
All emails distributed via the list are archived at
http://bioacoustics.cse.unsw.edu.au/archives/html/canberrabirds. It is a condition of list membership that you agree to your contributions being archived.
Canberrabirds mailing list
https://lists.canberrabirds.org.au/mailman/listinfo/canberrabirds
