Monday, July 5, 2010

Buff-Rumped Woodpecker 'Fishing' for Ants

It was late afternoon and it was terribly hot. I took a shelter under a tree by the side of the track and to my surprise, there was a pair of Buff-Rumped Woodpecker right above me. I carefully position the camera to get a clear view of the birds but it's always a challenge to get  clear shots through the branches. I fired a few shots and when I looked at the display I noticed that the female bird was actually feeding on ants that got stuck on her feathers.

This was how she 'fished' for the ants : She sat quietly on the branch with the most ants for a while and let the ants climb onto her body and bit her.





























And then, she would just pick the ants that were stuck on her feathers one after another....





























A very clever trick, indeed....





























But the male didn't seem to be interested with the ants 'snack' at all....




















7 comments:

  1. great capture!! last is perfect! regards

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  2. Hi Ari

    What you observed was a behaviour known as 'anting'. The bird is thought to squeeze the formic acid out of the ant onto the feathers; the acid acts as a kind of fungicide, to keep parasites in check. So, probably not eating the ants, just using them for personal hygiene!

    Dave

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  3. Great 'anting' shots. Probably somebody could market this as a health product and set up a franchise! Definitely I will not be their first customer, Ouch ouch ouch:)

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  4. Dave, thanks for sharing your vast knowledge on my blog, I didn't know about this 'anting' thing before this. Thanks Madi and Andrea for your compliments.

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  5. Great captures of this woodpecker!
    I especially like the last one, showing the male's red "whisker" clearly.

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  6. An impressive bird and impressive photos Ari. You really have some very interesting and different birds in your part of the world.

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  7. Dave, anting is new to me, thanks for sharing.
    Ari, great shots.

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