CALL COMMON QUAIL (Coturnix coturnix)
Column: Dust Bathing An Unusual — But Necessary — Ritual Among Birds
It was one of those technicolor spring mornings as I hiked a mountain trail in the Santa Ysabel Preserve near Julian a few years ago.
Wildflowers dotted the spring-green meadows, the sky was bright blue and dappled with puffy white clouds. Temperatures hugged you like a soft cotton shirt and the air was filled with a chorus of bird songs.
The smell of pines, fresh grass and mountain air added a beautiful energy to the emerging day.
A blanket of newborn grass covered the ground, and iridescent bluebirds flittered about looking for insects. The colors of spring are about as vivid as nature creates.
I stopped walking when I spotted a flock of wild turkeys in a distant meadow and then silently blended into a thicket of trees so I could just watch the activity. Encountering animals in the wild is always fun, but when they don’t know you are watching, there’s always a chance to learn something.
As I watched, these big birds had gathered around a clear, dusty patch of ground and they began taking turns wallowing in the dirt. With flapping wings, rolling motions and kicking feet, they were creating a cloud of dust in this unusual process.
The activity went on for quite some time until the dozen or so birds had all participated in this strange ritual.
Flash forward to this week when a trail camera, set up at a remote corner of my property, captured images of quail, roadrunners and rabbits all doing the same thing.
It began with quail scratching out shallow pits and then thrashing about in the loose soil until the holes were 4 to 6 inches in depth.
Several pits were created and over a period of several hours, dozens of quail showed up to dust bathe.
In between time, two roadrunners showed up and took advantage of the dust pits and at night, rabbits would emerge from the surrounding brush to also utilize this public bath.
dusting roadrunner.Jpg
Trail cam image of a roadrunner dust bathing.
(Ernie Cowan)
Now I was curious. What was this dusting behavior all about?
It turns out, dust is a natural cleanser that will remove accumulated oils and parasites from fur and feathers.
Dust absorbs excessive oil that can affect a bird’s ability to fly as well as the insulating properties of feathers. It’s a form of natural conditioning.
Additionally, dusting can smother lice, mites or other parasites that will accumulate in the dense covering of feathers or fur.
Dusting is not limited to turkey or quail. Dozens of other bird species employ this same technique, including sparrows, pheasants, wrens, thrashers, larks and hawks. As you would expect, the behavior is more common in arid places where water is more limited.
Bird lovers can offer places for dust baths as one more item to attract species to their homes.
The dust bath should be large enough to accommodate several birds at once, located in an open, sunny area, but close to cover and it should contain a clean, fine-grained dirt.
Wren nesting update
There has been a lot of interest in the house wrens that are nesting in the tiny nestbox placed in one corner of our garden on Mt. Whoville.
Egg laying is complete, and the female wren is dutifully attending to seven, pure-white, jellybean-sized eggs.
During the recent colder, rainy days, she spent a lot of time in the box, panting to regulate her body temperature, occasionally turning the eggs, and dashing out now and then, likely to get food for herself.
Often, she would return to the nest with a feather to tuck around the eggs for additional insulation.
Typically, the incubation period for house wren eggs is about 12 days. Incubation does not begin until all eggs are laid. If the hatching schedule is similar to past years, we should see the first chick arrive around Sunday.
It was one of those technicolor spring mornings as I hiked a mountain trail in the Santa Ysabel Preserve near Julian a few years ago.
Wildflowers dotted the spring-green meadows, the sky was bright blue and dappled with puffy white clouds. Temperatures hugged you like a soft cotton shirt and the air was filled with a chorus of bird songs.
The smell of pines, fresh grass and mountain air added a beautiful energy to the emerging day.
A blanket of newborn grass covered the ground, and iridescent bluebirds flittered about looking for insects. The colors of spring are about as vivid as nature creates.
I stopped walking when I spotted a flock of wild turkeys in a distant meadow and then silently blended into a thicket of trees so I could just watch the activity. Encountering animals in the wild is always fun, but when they don’t know you are watching, there’s always a chance to learn something.
As I watched, these big birds had gathered around a clear, dusty patch of ground and they began taking turns wallowing in the dirt. With flapping wings, rolling motions and kicking feet, they were creating a cloud of dust in this unusual process.
The activity went on for quite some time until the dozen or so birds had all participated in this strange ritual.
Flash forward to this week when a trail camera, set up at a remote corner of my property, captured images of quail, roadrunners and rabbits all doing the same thing.
It began with quail scratching out shallow pits and then thrashing about in the loose soil until the holes were 4 to 6 inches in depth.
Several pits were created and over a period of several hours, dozens of quail showed up to dust bathe.
In between time, two roadrunners showed up and took advantage of the dust pits and at night, rabbits would emerge from the surrounding brush to also utilize this public bath.
dusting roadrunner.Jpg
Trail cam image of a roadrunner dust bathing.
(Ernie Cowan)
Now I was curious. What was this dusting behavior all about?
It turns out, dust is a natural cleanser that will remove accumulated oils and parasites from fur and feathers.
Dust absorbs excessive oil that can affect a bird’s ability to fly as well as the insulating properties of feathers. It’s a form of natural conditioning.
Additionally, dusting can smother lice, mites or other parasites that will accumulate in the dense covering of feathers or fur.
Dusting is not limited to turkey or quail. Dozens of other bird species employ this same technique, including sparrows, pheasants, wrens, thrashers, larks and hawks. As you would expect, the behavior is more common in arid places where water is more limited.
Bird lovers can offer places for dust baths as one more item to attract species to their homes.
The dust bath should be large enough to accommodate several birds at once, located in an open, sunny area, but close to cover and it should contain a clean, fine-grained dirt.
Wren nesting update
There has been a lot of interest in the house wrens that are nesting in the tiny nestbox placed in one corner of our garden on Mt. Whoville.
Egg laying is complete, and the female wren is dutifully attending to seven, pure-white, jellybean-sized eggs.
During the recent colder, rainy days, she spent a lot of time in the box, panting to regulate her body temperature, occasionally turning the eggs, and dashing out now and then, likely to get food for herself.
Often, she would return to the nest with a feather to tuck around the eggs for additional insulation.
Typically, the incubation period for house wren eggs is about 12 days. Incubation does not begin until all eggs are laid. If the hatching schedule is similar to past years, we should see the first chick arrive around Sunday.
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