Birds
Birds cower close to the ground while taking a dust bath and vigorously wriggling their bodies and flapping their wings. This disperses loose substrate into the air. The birds spread one or both wings which allows the falling substrate to fall between the feathers and reach the skin. The dust bath is often followed by thorough shaking to further ruffle the feathers which may be accompanied with preening using the bill.
The California Quail is a highly sociable bird; one of their daily communal activities is a dust bath. A group of quail will select an area where the ground has been freshly turned or is soft. Using their underbellies, they burrow downward into the soil about 2 to 5 cm. They then wriggle about in the indentations, flapping their wings and ruffling their feathers, causing dust to rise in the air. They seem to prefer sunny places in which to create these dust baths. An ornithologist is able to detect the presence of quail in an area by spotting the circular indentations left behind in the soft dirt, some 7–15 cm (3-6 inches) in diameter.
Birds without a uropygial gland (e.g., the emu, kiwi, ostrich and bustard) rely on dust bathing to keep their feathers clean and dry.
Read more about this topic: Dust Bath
Famous quotes containing the word birds:
“One ought not to have to care
So much as you and I
Care when the birds come round the house
To seem to say good-by;”
—Robert Frost (1874–1963)
“Calico Pie,
The little Birds fly
Down to the calico tree,
Their wings were blue,
And they sang “Tilly-loo!”
Till away they flew—
And they never came back to me!”
—Edward Lear (1812–1888)
“Go, birds of spring: let winter have his fee;
Let a bleak paleness chalk the door,
So all within be livelier than before.”
—George Herbert (1593–1633)