Great observation! Maybe someone will know "WazUp?" 1) Anting can be ruled out, as that behavior involves a bird purposefully grasping an ant or millipede in its bill and rubbing the critter over its feathers. The formic acid in ants is thought to kill tiny mites and other bird parasites or bacteria or fungi. Birds do it only with ants with full "acid sacs" and will not use ants that have had their acid sacs hacked. 2) Slam dancing is limited to Hominidae. 3) Seizures are not likely, based on your description, which does not FIT.
I suspect that the final answer will be something else we have not yet thought of. I hope that we do get some plausible interpretation. Joe Roller, Denver On Tue, Jul 19, 2011 at 7:02 PM, mfg5...@live.com <mfg5...@live.com> wrote: > Observed something rather strange on Sunday driving down my street > about noon. A bird,(sp unidentified but likely a house finch) was > moving/hopping across the street when all of a sudden it threw itself > on it's back and proceeded to flail around, legs bicycling in the air, > body writhing like a snake. After about 2 seconds of that it stood up, > took a few more steps and repeated the exercise. It happened one more > time but by then it was in my rear view mirror. The third time it > looked like it was doing the elementary back stroke (sort of a rowing > motion w its wings) Should have stopped to satisfy my curiosity right > then. > > Anyway, I haven't begun to research this but wondered if anyone else > has seen similar behavior. The surface was asphalt, somewhat gravelly. > So far, my guesses are: 1) this was some sort of anting, dusting > behavior however seems very odd that a bird would expose it's belly to > the sky, 2) are there records of epilepsy in birds (or other seizure- > causing maladies)? or 3) bird was practicing a new type of slam- > dancing. > > Any insights are appreciated > > Mary Geder > Lakewood, CO > > -- > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups > "Colorado Birds" group. > To post to this group, send email to cobirds@googlegroups.com. > To unsubscribe from this group, send email to > cobirds+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. > For more options, visit this group at > http://groups.google.com/group/cobirds?hl=en. > > -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Colorado Birds" group. To post to this group, send email to cobirds@googlegroups.com. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to cobirds+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/cobirds?hl=en.
