At first, we thought that something was wrong with this bird. I believe it is a brown thrasher, and it was “anting”. The thrasher is lying on the ground, and letting ants climb on it. Apparently the ants crawl between its feathers and skin. It stretched out its wings, and acted like it was having a dust bath.
It sounds like there are different theories about why some birds do this. I found several, so think I’ll just leave it at that – there are several theories. If you want to learn more about it, this website explains it .
We saw one in our yard a year ago, but just for a very short time like this. Hopefully we will see this one again.
