Hi Sonja,
Yes, I have seen kookaburras do a similar thing. About 15 years ago I started
noticing kookaburras in my local area (Katoomba NSW) with orangey breasts. This
had me puzzled for a while but then I found one bathing in wet mud in the
bottom of an embankment. It appears they did this so much they had created a
round kookaburra-sized depression in the orange mud.
I wonder if this might have some therapeutic effect on the plumage, or perhaps
it helps with parasites.
Carol
> On 11 Apr 2016, at 3:08 pm, Sonja Ross <> wrote:
>
> I had an interesting experience on my walk today. A Laughing Kookaburra was
> preening on fallen branches in a creek bed. It then flew down to a muddy
> spot near the edge and jabbed vigorously with its bill. I thought initially
> it had caught something to eat, but it didn't appear to have done so, and
> certainly didn't swallow anything. Then I wondered if it was going to be
> like the macaws in South America and swallow the mud to counteract poisons
> in fruits they eat, but it flew back to the perch and appeared to use the
> mud as it preened. It had a bath prior to one of these episodes, and was
> also joined by another Kookaburra which behaved in a similar way. Has
> anyone else seen this behaviour?
>
> I've also put this on the Facebook version with photos since I can't
> remember the size for this site.
>
> Sonja
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