Today we came across a funny and interesting sight. We saw groups of kites coming together in a flat muddy and awfully sunny patch and exhibiting the following behaviour. Click on the image below to view the video.

It looked almost comical that these big birds were coming and “plopping” themselves flat on the ground with their wings spread out. They would be like that for a minute at most and then move away and again plop in another spot. I have seen Black Kites resting on terraces and roof tops with their wings open on rainy days. But that seemed like an obvious attempt to dry their feathers which were wet. But this was a sunny day and the heat was intense. I looked up this behaviour online and found an interesting article by Audubon.

The article can be summarised as follows: Many birds including birds of prey like Kites and Eagles are known to “sunbathe”. Recent research has indicated that birds may do this to get rid of ecto-parasites living on their body and feathers like lice. Scientists have been trying to understand how exactly sunlight can “get rid” of parasites and they suggest that —temporary bursts of sunlight which can reach a temperature of 65 degree Celsius can work as a non-chemical pesticide for insects like Lice.

This is just so cool!

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