Sunbathing Birdy

My Dear Princess and Dear Fellows,

"What IS that bird doing?" 

This was Caro. She was concerned it was ill. To be fair to her, I'd never seen a bird do this either. And it looked pretty weird.

It looked like the bird was sun-bathing. You can't see it well in this picture, but the starling's wings were fully spread out and it was panting. 

It turns out this is normal behaviour for birds. It is called "sunning" and heating up like this helps drive out parasites and stimulate a bird's natural wing-oils. 

So says the internet. It then went on to add that this is what Starling-Studying Scientists think. But they don't really know.

The reason they pant is that this behaviour causes them to heat up faster than they can sweat, so they open their little beaks. And if you are anything like me, you may be thinking, "Birds SWEAT? Is there bird deodourant?"

That was the most interesting thing that happened on this, a Monday. Well, I did have a fun meeting with Saffy the Project Manager who said that I should take it easy for the rest of the month. 

Which was really nice given that I've barely started on her project. 

She then added that I'll be busy in the new year. 

That isn't exactly how she put it. She said, "You'll be hot stuff in January. Ooh la la." 

Also, she has decided to call me "Wallace" and she is "Gromit" (because of my accent). She sends me Wallace and Gromit memes and gifs when requesting updates.

I wonder what Smock would make of all this?

S.