I saw something similar several years ago, probably about 7-8 miles north along rt. 89. In this case, the red wing was on the back of the deer, rather than the head. I didn't watch it long enough to see what the bird was doing, but the deer did not seem to be concerned. -Marty Schlabach
From: bounce-61038553-3494...@list.cornell.edu [mailto:bounce-61038553-3494...@list.cornell.edu] On Behalf Of B Mcaneny Sent: Sunday, June 03, 2012 8:58 PM To: CAYUGABIRDS-L Subject: [cayugabirds-l] Deer/redwing Curious activity this a.m. in our field on 89 near Boy Scout Camp, T-burg. A deer was in field when I spotted it but it looked strange. Something on head, antlers? No. Binox showed a Red Wing Black Bird on its head carefully picking something off deer's head, like the oxpeckers we saw in Africa. The deer totally accepted this activity and would move its head from side to side slowly during the picking. This went on for 5 min or more in a very calm way. Has anyone seen this behavior? Shirley McAneny -- Cayugabirds-L List Info: Welcome and Basics<http://www.northeastbirding.com/CayugabirdsWELCOME> Rules and Information<http://www.northeastbirding.com/CayugabirdsRULES> Subscribe, Configuration and Leave<http://www.northeastbirding.com/CayugabirdsSubscribeConfigurationLeave.htm> Archives: The Mail Archive<http://www.mail-archive.com/cayugabirds-l@cornell.edu/maillist.html> Surfbirds<http://www.surfbirds.com/birdingmail/Group/Cayugabirds> BirdingOnThe.Net<http://birdingonthe.net/mailinglists/CAYU.html> Please submit your observations to eBird<http://ebird.org/content/ebird/>! -- -- Cayugabirds-L List Info: http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsWELCOME http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsRULES http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsSubscribeConfigurationLeave.htm ARCHIVES: 1) http://www.mail-archive.com/cayugabirds-l@cornell.edu/maillist.html 2) http://www.surfbirds.com/birdingmail/Group/Cayugabirds 3) http://birdingonthe.net/mailinglists/CAYU.html Please submit your observations to eBird: http://ebird.org/content/ebird/ --
