 Photos: John Doerper |
Here's
what bird expert, Laura Erickson, thinks and wonders:
I'd be interested to know what the temperature was. She's fluffing all her feathers, which makes it seem like it was cold. But the way she was rubbing her face on the branch also makes me wonder if she was just fluffing and preening because she's found a safe spot and is nice and comfortable.
I'd be interested to know what the temperature was. She's fluffing all her feathers, which makes it seem like it was cold. But the way she was rubbing her face on the branch also makes me wonder if she was just fluffing and preening because she's found a safe spot and is nice and comfortable.
When birds are very comfortable and are leisurely preening, they often fluff all their feathers and do a lot of face wiping. If she's been doing anything with spider silk, either picking bugs out of webs or gathering nesting materials, her face may be getting sticky. This would explain why she needs to wipe it on branches. The comfort movements she's making while cleaning her face are consistent with fluffing out all her feathers, which would expose those white "petticoats."
