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morning, crows would arrive. Picking up a mothball, a crow would rub it all through its feathers! ...My friend was faced with a daily mothball hunt to replace a deterent, or frequent trips to the store to restock.”
The birds were “anting” with the mothballs! As far back as the early 19th century, this strange behavior been described. Birds pick up an ant, break its abdomen and rub the formic acid through their feathers to supposedly remove lice, mites and other parasites. Ms. Lockley did not give the time of the year of her friend’s experience but Maijori Rhoadhouse did: late summer. This is when birds are molting; old feathers fall out and are replaced. The skin itches, ornithologists reason, and spreading the acid relieves the discomfort.
Over 200 species worldwide, including jays, robins, bluebirds and cardinals, have been listed in ornithological literature as using ants to groom themselves and relieve itchy skin. The contortions of the bird in attempting to reach all parts of its anatomy have been described as "clownishly beautiful.” Observers have been fascinated by this enigmatic behavior for years.
There are two types of anting. In passive anting, a bird settles down on and allows the ants to crawl through its plumage. Passive anting is not so well understood as active anting. Do the ants remove something from the bird’s body while crawling through the feathers? In 1876, American ornithologist, Abbott Frazar, described the passive anting behavior of his pet crow and
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