Burra Maluca wrote:I'd heard that the ants spray formic acid on the feathers which acts as an anti-parasitic.
That's the reason they give here too. Lots of birds do it.
The flickers and woodpeckers here rub individual ants on their feathers with their beak, slowly squishing the ant as they go. Then discard it and get another one.
If the chickens find an ant hill, I know they will be mite free for about a year. Works incredibly well.
The first scientific writings of this behaviour dates back to 1831. American ornithologist John James Audubon described wild juvenile turkeys that appeared to wallow in abandoned ant hills. Another description was published by a naturalist in 1847 in a manuscript called "Bird of Jamaica". In it the author describes how ants remove parasites from a tame crow, while the crow is foraging for food.[
Invasive plants are Earth's way of insisting we notice her medicines. Stephen Herrod Buhner
Everyone learns what works by learning what doesn't work. Stephen Herrod Buhner
Invasive plants are Earth's way of insisting we notice her medicines. Stephen Herrod Buhner
Everyone learns what works by learning what doesn't work. Stephen Herrod Buhner