Date: Tue, 4 Feb 2003 11:45:48 -0500
Reply-To: Chad Skaggs <chadskaggs@MINDSPRING.COM>
Sender: Georgia Birders Online <GABO-L@LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
From: Chad Skaggs <chadskaggs@MINDSPRING.COM>
Subject: Anting Behavior
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"
I have seen Common Grackles anting with mothballs in my front yard in
Decatur.
It was perhaps five years ago. An ornithologist friend in another state
learned of this behavior in, I believe, his parents' yard in New Jersey. He
also learned that I had put mothballs into a flower bed in my yard in an
attempt to discourage squirrels from eating my tulips. (It didn't work.)
My friend said he was contemplating writing an article on the subject,
and asked me to watch to see whether birds were anting with my mothballs.
I then scattered mothballs more widely about the yard, giving special
attention to space beneath the feeders where the birds couldn't miss them.
Sure enough, within a couple of weeks, as I recall, I saw the a grackle
picking up a mothball an stroking its back and wings with it. Then another.
I didn't keep notes, and so am vague about dates and numbers. But there
is no doubt that I saw it.
I don't know whether my friend ever wrote the article, or whether it was
published. Privately, I will send his e-mail address to Ms. Lovell so that
she may get it touch with him.
Cheers,
Chad Skaggs, in sunny but cool Decatur
chadskaggs@mindspring.com
At 07:12 AM 2/4/2003 -0800, you wrote:
>Helen,
>
>I'm forwarding this message to the group.
>
>Steve
>
>P.S. Perhaps you could post some information about this behavior.
>Where do birds encounter mothballs? K-mart? I'm picturing a crow
>entering K-mart, using the self-checkout for the box of moth balls,
>but then does he use cash, ATM? I'm quite curious.
>
>P.P.S. I was being a smart-#@*, here's a small story about the
>phenomena:
>http://tinyurl.com/5bkm (this tinyurl.com is pretty cool)
>
>Steve Holzman
>North High Shoals, GA (Oconee Co)
>--- Helen Winslow lovell <hlovell@lycos.com> wrote:
>> To Whomever It MIght Concern,
>>
>> I am a Biology graduate student at Georgia Southern. I am
>> interested in anting behavior with mothballs in the state of
>> Georgia. Could you please forward any documented cases of this
>> behavior in any species of bird? Thank you.
>>
>> Helen Lovell
>> Statesboro, GA
>> hlovell@mailcity.com
>>
>>
>> _____________________________________________________________
>> Get 25MB, POP3, Spam Filtering with LYCOS MAIL PLUS for
>> $19.95/year.
>> http://login.mail.lycos.com/brandPage.shtml?pageId=plus&ref=lmtplus
>
>
>=====
>----------------------------------------
>Steve Holzman, Athens, GA, USA
>
**********
To search GABO-L archives or manage your subscription, go to
http://www.listserv.uga.edu/archives/gabo-l.html
To contact a listowner, send message to
GABO-L-request@LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
To view GABO-L information/guidelines, go to
http://www.gos.org/gabo.html
| 
