~*~** strange posture **~*~

[Jenifre]

confusedd cI wanted to share this crazy photo with you all and get some opinions. I brought my intermewed RTHA into the house last month...try to get her back into the routine and out of the mews/weathering. I placed her on her ring perch, which I sit on top of the cat's scatching tower - same as last year - no chnages. My husband called me..."Look at this crazy 'stuff'! What the heck is she doing?!!?"
And there she was...with this crazy posture. I turned the perch and she never changed. I took her down. She acted completely fine - not distracted, not irritated and so on. I put her back up and within minutes she did it again. The next night she did the same posture.......so I took some pics. I photoshopped some poo off of her deck feathers, but other that that this is exactly how it was.
The only 'new' thing is the wooden sculpture of the raptor behind her and tonight I will see if that makes a difference.
Any ideas..... confusedd

http://i284.photobucket.com/albums/ll32/jenifre70/posture9242008AA.jpg
http://i284.photobucket.com/albums/ll32/jenifre70/posture9242008-2.jpg
http://i284.photobucket.com/albums/ll32/jenifre70/postureA9242008.jpg
http://i284.photobucket.com/albums/ll32/jenifre70/postureB9242008.jpg

[kimmerar]

I'm no expert but my first guess is she's challanging that statue - maybe challenge is the wrong word. She's leary of that statue.?? yes - remove the statue and see if she quits??

[robhawkyyz]

yep it kind of looks like love... it may also be climate difference from mew to in doors if there is a difference? otherwise love is in the air. you may have some new statues soon. LOL

[Bryant Tarr]

Not sure why she would be doing it in that situation, but the posture looks a lot like the behavior birds do called "anting"

[robhawkyyz]

Bryant, what is "anting" ? i have not heard that term ...

[Bryant Tarr]

Anting is a behavior exhibited by many birds but rarely seen. Basically birds fly down to ant hills and stand there with their wings and tail fanned out. The ants crawl all over them and it is thought the birds are using the formic acid (I think) from ant bites to rid themselves of parasites. It's pretty cool.

[goshawks00]

Yep Bryant may be right, I've seen it once... That said, I have many times seen my goshawks do something similar to that and is a posture they do when sunning or going from a cold area to a warm one...

Jennifre I notice one deck is shorter, did she at one time lose that feather ( pulled out then regrown the same year)? Or possibly it's just not down yet.
barry

[Isobael]

Anting is a behavior exhibited by many birds but rarely seen. Basically birds fly down to ant hills and stand there with their wings and tail fanned out. The ants crawl all over them and it is thought the birds are using the formic acid (I think) from ant bites to rid themselves of parasites. It's pretty cool.

Never heard of it done by raptors.

I know crows and raven do it. I've seen it in my backyard, where the crows will fly down to the ant hill and "mantle" on it for a few minutes, then move off and preen by the little pond.

That is so cool!

[everetkhorton]

Jenifre:
She was just posing, she wanted her picture taken. I have seen Rt's do
this while outside on a perch. But never inside.

[Jenifre]

Barry (all)-
I think that deck feather must not have been all the way grown..because I can not recall her losing any other than her normal molt.
At the time, when I walked into the room I instantly (instinctively) thought she was doing a display for sexual attraction. I have no idea why I would think this, as I have never witnessed it or can recall any such mating display in my readings/etc. I have seen birds anting as well, and it is funny that you said that because less than a week later
I had to have an exterminator do an extra visit due to those tiny black (sugar) ants.....now that is really getting me thinking....

[outhawkn]

Jeeez you guys....she is just showing off her new feathers.....toungeout

Sometimes they will "sun" themselves like this as well. Or do it to "dry" the feathers ( even if they arent actually wet) . Did you bring her in from a slightly dark mews?

[Jenifre]

I took her out of the box in my basement (sounds eerie - I keep my husband there as well......) anyway, once out of the GH we did a few free flights to get her head 'back on' after a nice fat summer. She did fine. I misted her lightly and took her upstairs. It was not a cold night so not a big change in temp. She didn't bate and seemed content.
I also thought about the lights abover her maybe warming her but wasn't sure. Again, this is my normal routine with her and my previous hawks.

So the 3 things I thought were: 1) sexual display 2) fear of /pre occupation with the statue 3) sunning/warming under the light.
I am intrigued by the ant thing.

So tonight we'll see.I will put her up and leave the statue, if she does it again, I will remove the statue. If she continues I will look for more ants and dim the lights...if none of that works.....well, I am releasing her come April and hopefully she can find herself a responsive mate who is not made of wood! ha! -don't go there

[Bodarc]

Jenifre

Did you mist her both nights? If so, I think she's just drying off.

[Iamtheweasel]

Drying off is typical for that posture, but I am interested to see if she changes her stance once the statue is gone. I have a falcon on a glove statue that my Harris aggressivly postures to every time he see's it....Head down, sideways look while puffing up and that low long raspy scream.

[h-bob]

Did you ever figure out why she was doing this?

[Tom Smith]

I once had a passage RT that did this very same thing and it was like wise kept in a basement but only for a very short several weeks and was outside being trained and flown daily, but kept in the basement in the off time. She seemed to believe she was wet all the time and in spite of weathering in full light afterwards never got over "need to dry off" posture.
I had a prairie falcon that would do this on very cold days (sub freezing)after being kept in the camper shell hooded with two dogs that were all panting from being run. When the prairie was to be flown she would go land on a fence post and assume this posture. Why? It was becuase the dog's breaths was causing moisture and it was condensating on the bird and she felt a need to dry off. Keeping her in the cab solved the problem. She never felt wet to the touch, nor did it become a permanent thing like in the redtail.
Just my thoughts

Tom Smith

[areal]

I dont know if its common or not but Mwagi sits like that quite a lot of the time.
Wings drooped right down to the ground and tail flared all the way out.

He tends to do it more at the start of the season when he's still unfit, I've even had him stood like that on the fist after repeated long distance recalls.

Maybe its a bit like laying down, some birds will do it others dont.

Very nice redtail BTW!!

[Jenifre]

It's so crazy. She didn't do it again. I put her up like any other time and no more. She has been out hunting and has shown none of it. I just do not understand. And to be fair, I should describe my 'basement'. In NC most of the state doesn't really have basements. Growing up in NJ (shuddup!) I know all about damp basement, but the one I have now is like a car garage on one side and my laundry room on the other. it has heat and air air and isn't really underground per say. So it's not a basement in the typical sense. But I do get your point and it is well taken and appreciated. Soo with that being said, thanks for everyone's replies and if it happens again before release in March/April I'll let you know!photoo