I think what has happened here is transfer of words. It is real
sometimes that birds put ants on their plumage. And suggested for these
reasons. So given the name “anting”. Sunning behaviour like that can involve
the birds in doing similar looking things. Bird behaviour books can tend to
describe these perhaps only slightly related things, together. So the word
anting has sort of spread into behaviours that maybe look similar or maybe have
similar benefits. Or that is my idea.
Philip
From: Birding-Aus
[ On Behalf Of Penny Brockman
Sent: Friday, 23 October, 2020 1:53 PM
To: David Clark
Cc: Charles Hunter via Birding-Aus
Subject: Re: [Birding-Aus] Australian Magpie "anting"or what?
I remember seeing two magpies in my garden lying on the
woodchip path in full sun, wings extended and bodies awkwardly on one side.
Bills open and heads tilted. After a while they got up, closed wings and moved
into the shade, presumably to cool down. This I believe helps control
lice.
On Thu, 22 Oct 2020, at 11:32 PM, David Clark wrote:
I have often seen Magpies lying flat out on the
ground. On the occasions when my approach caused the Magpie to depart, I
have checked the location and never once have I seen ants.
The common factor with all instances I have observed is
full and bright sunshine.
On Wed, Oct 21, 2020 at 9:57 PM Penny Brockman <> wrote:
On Wed, 21 Oct 2020, at 5:28 PM,
wrote:
For years I’ve been
watching magpies in Blackheath, regardless of the temperature, mild or red-hot,
lying down in a sort of trance-like state. But they are alert. Someone
somewhere mentioned that they are “anting”. Any published papers and evidence
available on what they are actually doing?
Thanks
David Jackson
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