So this little guy

was watching me take photos of this chap

when after a while he thought this would be a good move

He got a bit embarrassed after a bit and flew off to the other side of the lake..
Was he getting fresh with me?

Ah, the international avian code for “sort your **** chain out!”

ah good! first comment 🙂

Rust coloured chains are all the rage down south 😳

Nice bird, yunki. Looks like it was hot and took a dust bath!

I’ve been trying to find an explanation for why my bird does this –
I can be in another room and I hear “thud, thud”.. go in the kitchen and it gives me the evil eye from the washing line…
[video]https://youtu.be/SAF9ygpRQgw[/video]

Probably a reflection thing? Fighting of the scarey looking rival.

Was he getting fresh with me?

It actually looks like he’s anting to me. It’s certainly the correct posture but there doesn’t seem to be an ant in sight. He’s possibly confused and maybe the sight of a solitary ant or other insect triggered off the instinctive reaction.

TBH I wasn’t aware that robins engaged in anting but a google search suggests that they do, and certainly American robins do.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anting_%28bird_activity%29

EDIT : Is it actually a juvenile robin? I’m not that convinced.

Baby robin? Genus Turdus.

That’s a baby blackbird, isn’t it? Hence the ‘not bright enough to run away from humans/cats’ issue. My wife had to look after one in the garden at the weekend after it got chased by a magpie and flew into the window. It sat quite merrily on her lap for about an hour.

Dust bath, innit.

It was indeed a very friendly young blackbird

I’ve never heard of anting before, but it could have been what he was doing as there were a few ants on the ground as well as a good dozen damsel flies..
He definitely wasn’t dust bathing cos it was a very still pose..

I saw so many juvenile birds during the ride, hanging around like cat bait, looking mostly bewildered but unafraid..
This fella, a jackdaw, a couple of long tailed tits, goslings, coots, moorhens and of course ducklings..
No baby robins though 🙂

I’m no ornithologist and am not usually interested in our feathered neighbours, but seeing them so close up and vulnerable was quite intriguing

I reckon that sparrow has got it in for you Dezb.. don’t sleep with your windows open!

I think bubs has got it, the windows are quite reflective. Weird how it sometimes sits on the windowsill mms from the glass. Certainly feels like he/she is looking in at me then!

it was a very still pose..

Definitely anting then imo. Spreading the flight and tail feathers like that is to maximize the surface area available for ants to crawl on. If there were a few ants on the ground as you say that could easily have triggered the reaction.

I associate anting more with corvids who will in fact pick up ants and put them on themselves. I believe that they even squeeze them to force them to release formic acid. Although like corvids blackbirds are passerines so shared behaviour shouldn’t come as a surprise.

So is anting the teenaged birds idea of a practical joke?

‘get on here you little buggers, feel how soft and warm my feathers are… heh heh.. now FLY with me my pretties!!!’

Well ants don’t need much encouragement when it comes to sharing their formic acid.

They easily start squirting when they get excited.

what do the birds use it for?
some kind of organic symbiotic insect repellent and detergent I guess?

Yup

Looks like an anty climax.

anty climax….. 🙂

chuckles quietly to myself

Ok, so… it got in!!

Maybe it wasnt the reflection it was after 😯