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Stellar Jay Sunning itself
suburban greenbelt
Photo taken Aug 2009
I woke up this morning thinking about your Stellar Jay and it took awhile to find it, but I want it not only for the picture, but the information also. Thanks
Really interesting detective work going on here. Thanks for Nictitating link... learn something new every day!!
Yes, Gale, that's the third eyelid aka nictitating membrane http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nictitating...
Another reason why it could be anting -- not sure why it would protect its eyes if it were just sunning.
The bill being open, though, does suggest that it is cooling off.
Interesting discussion .... I've heard of anting I hope that is what this one is doing. Did you actually see it fly off eventually?
Does it have a greyish covering over its eye, I know birds do have a protective lid. I'm also wondering about flying into window.
This could be a bird that is anting. Anting is really cool -- the bird lets ants crawl around its feathers, possibly to use the formic acid they produce to help get rid of parasites. I did a search on EOL for it and you can see (http://bit.ly/9Gk5Ug) that a number of different kinds of birds do it, including jays and crows. Or, it could be a bird that hit a window and got stunned -- then eventually was able to go on its way.
Your heart must have been beating incredibly fast when you first noticed it there. Awe inspiring!
This blue jay (I believe it's a Stellar Jay) spent about 30 minutes sunning itself in the back yard. At first I thought it was injured, but apparently it was just soaking up the rays