Active Anting - White-throated Sparrow

When I was watching this White-throated Sparrow, I thought the bird had an injured foot from a Cooper's Hawk hunting in the area. After slowing down the video I could see the bird was fine and was doing one of more bizarre behaviors exhibited by birds: anting.

This is active anting, where a bird picks up an ant in its beak and rubs it on its feathers or skin. Some birds will lay still and let ants crawl on their feathers, this is called "passive anting."

There is some debate as to why birds go anting. Some researchers suggest that birds use the ants to eliminate parasites. Another theory is that the birds use the ants to soothe irritated skin.

The ants in this video are hard to see; they are tiny and yellow. But this Sparrow didn't have any trouble finding them and was really going to town with anting.

[ocean_hummer]

Wow! I had no idea about this. Super interesting to see it. Thanks so much for sharing! 💜

[differenttakethanmost]

Looks more like active FLEAS??? Poor thing 🫢

Edit: I SO appreciate your educational info in the descriptions. What crazy ANTics 🤪😂🤓