Birdfeeders

Many species of birds like to assume a strange position, spreading and fluffing their feathers to expose their plumage to the heat of the sun. Although this sometimes done on cool days, it seems to usually occur when a bird feels a rise in heat intensity. While they are sunning, birds often seem to go into a kind of trance, which allows us to approach much more closely than they usually allow. They seem to do this most often in areas they are familiar with, so watch for this behavior in the vicinity of your bird feeders. I see sunning birds most often on the ground below tube feeders. At first, I thought a sunning bird was sick for it was all fluffed up and just sitting there. As I approached it didn’t move until I was quite close. Then it was gone in a flash with clearly nothing wrong. I had just disturbed a relaxing sunning experience.