Country & Coast: Antics of a jay show who's top of the heap

Many are queries or questions and some are first hand natural history observations. An example was when Les Cornthwaite of Sheffield Bird Study Group sent me a fascinating video clip from his kitchen window, thus supporting my view that nature will pop up anywhere and provide unique insights into animal behaviour at any time. I'm sure that is a part of the fascination of the natural world.

Les's video clip which shows a Jay carrying out its so-called "anting" behaviour. This peculiar habit behaviour is not immediately obvious because the ants in question are so tiny that you can't see them unless up close.

Les wrote: "I have often read about when Jays are 'anting' but have never seen it in action. I just happened to look out of my back window and saw a Jay making all kinds of strange and bizarre postures, and realised what it was doing."

This is where the bird either grabs ants in its bill (deliberately placing them in among its feathers) or in more extreme cases, with a big anthill, the bird writhes around in the nest. You should try it sometime and see the effect. Anyway, this stirs up the ants to such an extent that they attack it; which is probably understandable and reasonable.

Both behaviours stimulate the ants to squirt formic acid which produces a sharp stinging sensation. As Les describes, the Jay throws its wings forward almost like a Bird of Paradise and seems to apply ants to both the upper and lower sides. Why does the Jay do this? Well, the obvious reason is that the formic acid helps to control or remove parasites from the Jay's feathers and skin. However, another suggestion is that the sharp sensation of the formic acid is in some way pleasurable and the Jay is getting a kick out of this. Perhaps it is both these things.

Professor Ian D Rotherham is a researcher, writer and broadcaster on wildlife and environmental issues.

CW 30/10/10