anting
n.— «The behavior you witnessed, Mona, is called “anting.” I know it seems like it should be called “mothballing,” but anting is much easier to say. Plus, more often than not, birds rub their feathers with ants.…Over 250 different species of birds have been observed rubbing live ants over their feathers.… Birds have also been known to use over 40 other items to rub over their feathers. The list includes beetles, millipedes, lemons, walnuts, cigarette butts, and in some fashionable cities, Old Spice.» —“The anting antics of grackles” Cape Codder (Massachusetts) Aug. 11, 2006. (source: Double-Tongued Dictionary)
Further reading
Meg in Cape Cod, Massachusetts, gets why the state highway department encourages drivers to use their blinkers when changing lanes, but placing a digital sign at the Sagamore Bridge that reads Use Ya Blinkah is, well, a lexical bridge too far. Meg’s...
Enthusiastic book recommendations! Martha’s savoring the biography of Alexander von Humboldt, the 19th-century explorer, polymath, and naturalist who revolutionized our understanding of nature and predicted the effects of human activity on...