![\"killdeer](\"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/04\/killdeer-1402-ron-dudley.jpg\")
<\/p>\n“Little things” about bird behavior sometimes grab my attention and won’t let go.<\/p>\n
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\u00a01\/3200, f\/7.1, ISO 500, Canon 7D, Canon EF500mm f\/4L IS II USM, 1.4 tc, not baited, set up or called in<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n Last week I photographed this Killdeer as it waded in a puddle at Farmington Bay.\u00a0 At the instant this photo was taken the bird already had an itch on its face\u00a0that needed scratching…<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a01\/3200, f\/7.1, ISO 500, Canon 7D, Canon EF500mm f\/4L IS II USM, 1.4 tc, not baited, set up or called in<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n \u00a0so it lowered its wing so it could\u00a0raise its leg above the wing primaries…<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a01\/3200, f\/7.1, ISO 500, Canon 7D, Canon EF500mm f\/4L IS II USM, 1.4 tc, not baited, set up or called in<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n \u00a0and then lowered the leg on the other side of the wing…<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a01\/3200, f\/7.1, ISO 500, Canon 7D, Canon EF500mm f\/4L IS II USM, 1.4 tc, not baited, set up or called in<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n and\u00a0 proceeded to vigorously scratch the itch on the side of its face.\u00a0 The behavior is not unusual as\u00a0I’ve seen it\u00a0often in a variety of species.<\/p>\n But I have to rhetorically ask “why do they do it this way?”.\u00a0 Why go through all of these convoluted gyrations to get at the itch when it seems like they could simply raise their foot and scratch the itch without first\u00a0rearranging their limbs in such a seemingly awkward and complicated\u00a0manner.\u00a0 Go back and look at the first image again and see how easy it appears it would be to simply lower its head, raise its foot and scratch.<\/p>\n Maybe it has to do with biomechanics.<\/p>\n Human arms hang\u00a0almost straight down from our shoulders close to the midline of our bodies and equidistant from the front and back so one might think that we could scratch an itch in the middle of our upper back as easily as we can on our sternum.\u00a0 But we cannot.\u00a0\u00a0The arrangement of bones, muscles and ligaments in our shoulders and arms\u00a0gives us the ability to move our hands to the front of our bodies where our eyes can see what’s going on, at the expense of dexterity and flexibility behind us.<\/p>\n I wonder if something similar is the reason this Killdeer went through such\u00a0complicated maneuvers to simply scratch an itch on its face.\u00a0 The scratching action is quick and repetitive and would require complex coordination of muscles and bones that may not be as efficient or forceful without assuming this unusual posture first.\u00a0 Of course, I’m only guessing…<\/p>\n Yes, when it comes to bird behaviors I do occasionally dwell on the mundane but little things like this make me curious.\u00a0\u00a0And after all, it’s the little things that add up to the complicated and fascinating critters we call birds.<\/p>\n Ron<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" “Little things” about bird behavior sometimes grab my attention and won’t let go.<\/p>\n![\"killdeer](\"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/04\/killdeer-1403-ron-dudley.jpg\")
<\/p>\n![\"killdeer](\"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/04\/killdeer-1404-ron-dudley.jpg\")
<\/p>\n![\"killdeer](\"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/04\/killdeer-1407-ron-dudley.jpg\")
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