After watching the Cornell Lab RTH fledgling leave the nest area by a helpful gust of wind, it landed on one of the windowsills of the building. After being there awhile, it spread its wings and was laid out for a short time soaking up some sun. One of the chatters there posted this article on birds sprawled out in the sun. I had heard about "anting" before, but not the fact that birds' oil from preen glands turns into Vit D. Cornell fledgling 6-6-14.jpg - Bild entfernt (keine Rechte)
When you see a bird sprawling in the sun . . . Filed by bmarcotte @ 9:44 am on May 28, 2007
I’ve seen this happen before, but even so, I was momentarily taken aback by the sight of a Robin sprawled in the dust of one of my flower beds the other day.
There it lay, breast pressed into the dirt, tail fanned outward, wings spread full across the ground and head tilted at a, well, alarming angle. It looked like it was in the last stages of dying. But not to fear: It was simply sunbathing.
Bruce Brooks, in his book On the Wing, gives a nice description of what this is all about. In many species, he explains, the oil that a bird spreads from its preen gland over its feathers contains a chemical that turns into Vitamin D when it is exposed to sunlight. The Vitamin D is then absorbed through the skin or swallowed when the bird preens its feathers.
“This, and the fact that a nibble is not always enough to get rid of the substances mucking up the feathers, is one reason birds take sunbaths,” Brooks explains. “Emerging into bright sunlight from shade, a bird may suddenly flop onto the ground with a gasp, like a landlocked tourist arriving at the beach after a long drive. This ecstatic pose often seems to be involuntary — sunshine hits and the bird sprawls. It fluffs its feathers and spreads them to the sun, sometimes turning its head to fix the sun with a stare. The sun warms the skin, softens oils in the feathers, and drives parasites to dark spots under the wings, whence they can be removed easily during the preening that follows the sunbath.”
Not every bird sprawled on the ground is simply sunbathing, however. More than 200 species of birds worldwide, notes Brooks, have discovered the advantages of “anting” — that is, the bird either picks up an ant in its bill and rubs it through its feathers, or the bird literally flops on an anthill “with wings outspread, to let the ants crawl where they will.”
The ants, you see, secrete formic acid which helps rid the birds of tiny mites that feed on their feathers.
What is really interesting are some of the “ant substitutes” that birds will use to achieve the same effect. One Irondequoit woman, for example, was perplexed when the mothballs she placed around her flower beds to deter slugs began disappearing in 1993. Then she saw a grackle pick up a mothball in its bill and start rubbing it through its feathers! Two years later a Pittsford man reported the same behavior among grackles, with the birds either rolling on the mothballs or rubbing them on their wings.
Grackles will also use walnut juice, lemons and limes, chokecherries and marigold blossoms as “anting” materials. One summer, after picking spent marigold blossoms with my bare hands, I involuntarily wiped at the sweat trickling into one of my eyes. The burning sensation when the marigold “juice” hit my eyeball was almost unendurable. So I can fully understand how even the most stubborn mite would be driven away by this tactic!
DNA Tests Determine Whether 2013’s Injured Hawks Came From Bird Cams Nest
By Pat Leonard
"It was just over a year ago, on the same day, that two young Red-tailed Hawks were injured in separate accidents on the Cornell campus. One was found dead; the other was euthanized because of the severity of its injuries. Many people feared the young birds were the offspring of Big Red and Ezra, the beloved hawk pair that have nested on campus for years and have been featured on our live Bird Cams since 2012. But there was no way to tell for sure.
It was the not-knowing that bothered Cornell University employees Christine and Steve Bogdanowicz. But unlike most Bird Cams fans, they were in a position to investigate. Steve is an evolutionary biologist who turned his expertise with DNA analyses to determine the hawks’ familial relationships. He directs the Evolutionary Genetics Core Facility at Cornell University. Christine is the Assistant Director for Academic Programs for the Shoals Marine Lab and a Birder on the Ground. These “BOGs” are a dedicated group of local, volunteer hawk enthusiasts, most of whom work on campus. They follow the birds in their spare time and report to the wider Bird Cams community. " (Article conts)
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Fri Jun 06, 2014 2:58 pm (Last edited: Fri Jun 06, 2014 3:00 pm)
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) It is a 40 day growth chart of a red-tailed hawk. 
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Good Pic Description!!!
WoW.... that was interesting. Learn something new everyday. Thanks!
