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From: bob@delphi.uchicago.edu (Robert S. Lewis, Jr.)
Newsgroups: rec.birds
Subject: Re: The buzzards of Hinkley
Message-ID: <1990Dec10.170017.26347@midway.uchicago.edu>
Date: 10 Dec 90 17:00:17 GMT
References: <532@research.cc.flinders.oz> <1990Dec6.130950@Unify.com> <1990Dec7.150814.12291@granite.cr.bull.com> <1990Dec9.010930.15344@redpoll.neoucom.edu> <2510@mentor.cc.purdue.edu>
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In article <2510@mentor.cc.purdue.edu> mad@descartes.math.purdue.edu (Michael A. Dritschel) writes:

>On
>numerous occasions I have seen a group of vultures perched in a tree
>in the early morning with their wings spread cormarant style,
>presumably warming themselves.  An impressive sight.


I've heard they do this to kill bacteria (the UV rays kill bacteria, I
guess)--does anyone know if this is true?  Cormorants dry themselves
in the sun--their plumage is not as oily as the plumage of other
seabirds, and so water penetrates to their skin.