You're the Expert! What's Your Reply?
Q: “Our music teacher saw 20 birds outside her house on Wednesday. She was surprised by their behavior as they flew down from the trees and seemed to be rubbing their bellies on the snow. “ (Ross at Ferrisburgh, VT, Mar. 8, 2006)
A. "They
may have been taking snow baths, says robin expert Laura Erickson.
"Here is a description, from The Birds of North America, of
robins bathing in water:
"Bather wades into water until belly is submerged, dips forward while
fluffing breast-feathers, lowers and flutters wings, wetting them and
splashing water over back and tail. Repeats splashing sequence several
times. Bather then shakes off water and flies to nearby perch to preen."
"I
can't find a reference to robins snow-bathing, but there are a lot of
other common behaviors that haven't been reported for robins. Can any
Journey North participants get a video of this kind of behavior? If so,
it would be very interesting to add to the scientific literature about
robins."
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