| The Lincolnshire Bird Club http://lbcarchive.co.uk/forum/ |
|
| Woodpigeon behaviour in hailstorm http://lbcarchive.co.uk/forum/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=19106 |
Page 1 of 1 |
| Author: | John Watt [ Thu May 16, 2013 7:42 pm ] |
| Post subject: | Woodpigeon behaviour in hailstorm |
This afternoon we had a thunder shower which turned into a hailstorm for about ten minutes. There were two woodpigeons sitting on our garden boundary fence. When it began to hail they rolled slightly over to one side and raised the uppermost wing exposing the flank, axillaries and underwing to the falling hailstones, fanning their tails at the same time. They did this with with both wings for , perhaps, 30 seconds at a time as long as the hail fell. Once the hail reverted to rain they settled back to a normal perched position with closed wings and began preening their neck and breast feathers. Anyone seen similar or able to provide an explanation of this behaviour? John |
|
| Author: | Russell Hayes [ Thu May 16, 2013 9:10 pm ] |
| Post subject: | Re: Woodpigeon behaviour in hailstorm |
Hi John Pigeons like to shower in rain so I presume the instinct to do so was triggered by the hail as it fell. It may be coincidence that they stopped when the hail stopped and the rain started, but they must have thought they were already wet enough. They would not shower for too long a period to stop their feathers from becoming waterlogged and then not being able to flee any perceived threat. Russell |
|
| Page 1 of 1 | All times are UTC [ DST ] |
| Powered by phpBB® Forum Software © phpBB Group http://www.phpbb.com/ |
|