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- Title
Snow Bathing by House Finches: A Review of this Behavior by North American Birds.
- Authors
Hendricks, Paul
- Abstract
I report a case of snow bathing by House Finches (Carpodacus mexicanus), apparently the first for this species. As many as 15 finches bathed together, three to four at a time, in 18 cm of fresh loose snow in a manner typical when birds bathe in water or dirt: wings fluttered near the sides to spray the snow over the body with back and head plumage erected while the breast was pressed into the snow. Relatively few accounts of birds bathing in snow have been published. I found 23 prior reports of snow bathing for 16 North American species, mostly Passeriformes but including Falconiformes, Galliformes, Strigiformes, and Piciformes. Bathing in loose or uncompacted snow occurred more often than in wet or crusted snow, and there was a tendency for more than one bird to engage in snow bathing during each event. Brevity of accounts prevented identification of other factors that may be frequently associated with snow bathing. Bathing in snow is a routine behavior for some bird species, such as ptarmigan, and European accounts indicate that it is undoubtedly more widespread among North American species than shown by review of the literature.
- Subjects
NORTH America; ORNITHOLOGY; BIRD behavior; BIRDBATHS; SNOW; HOUSE finch
- Publication
Wilson Journal of Ornithology, 2009, Vol 121, Issue 4, p834
- ISSN
1559-4491
- Publication type
Article
- DOI
10.1676/09-044.1