Mark Kliene aked a question (see below) about an odd White-winged Chough
behaviour and wondered what they were doing. They were 'dusting' (also
known as 'dust bathing' and 'sand bathing'). Lots of birds do it but it is
less well known in passerines. The following is quoted directly from
Campbell and Lack's "Dictionary of Birds".
"... the White-winged Chough dusts in an aberrant manner while standing,
applying billfuls of dust to various parts of its plumage and dealing with
the wings by movements like those used in oiling ..."
It's fun to watch, like most things these birds do.
Ken Rogers
> Hi all,
> Yesterday afternoon i witnessed some peculiar behaviour between two
> groups (3 and 4) of
> Choughs. They were frantically scraping pits in the earth and was
> observed to be flicking
> from what i could ascertain, dirt into the underwings of the primary
> feathers, or could it have been termites or ants? it was almost a
> ritualistic exercise. Is this a common practice, could anyone explain
> this behaviour?
> Cheers,
>
> Mark Kliene.
>
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