Thursday, November 5, 2009

Shower in public

It was a very hot afternoon at the northern part of Singapore, after feeding frenzy in the morning this Pacific Golden Plover (Pluvialis fulva) decided to cool down by taking a bath in the water.

First using both leg to kick the water to wet the bottom part of the body.

Follow by flapping the wings to wet it. The Whimbrel looks irritated by the action of this neighbour and walk away.

Kicking & flapping simultaneously and the bird is enjoying it. The Whimbrel is further away now.

After kicking, flapping & now is time to wash the face & head.The Golden plover repeat the process and the Whimbrel just watch from a distance.
After enough fun in the water, is time to shake the water away. The water droplet must have hit the Whimbrel eyes?

Flap even harder to remove more water before the plover head to dry area for preening.

I also took video of the bathing/shower process. One question remains...do this bird need to rinse with fresh water as other mammals do?

1 comment:

  1. I guess some just love to do it in the public, lol. Excellent gallery of photos. Anna :)

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