Steller's Jay-anting

Very interesting image & notes Allen, sharp shot of this unusual behavior..
Well done!

Cool behavior, Allen. I've seen it in Flickers often, but don't recall seeing a Steller's Jay doing it.

Nice capture, Allen. I've seen the behavior in Gray Jays, but never in Steller's.

A very good shot that documents anting. The blue is especially nice...........................Jim

I have seen a Flicker do this also, but I didn't know what it was doing! Thanks for the explanation! Your image documents this very nicely. Sharon

Pretty cool behavioural shot. I've never seen this. A little more direct eye contact would be nice, but this is good as is too.

Interesting behavior I've never seen or heard of!
Not the best angle, but still fine.

Sandy

In anting behavior, often the bird will actually pick up ants with the beak and place them/rub them on the skin/plumage. Many passerines adopt a posture similar to this when they are sunning, the purpose of which is not entirely clear either. Many birds will adopt this sunning posture when it's quite hot out, so it's not a thermoregulatory posture (basking to increase heat absorption). They often open their beak and gular flutter (as this Steller's jay is doing), a behavior that increases evaporative cooling and helps dump excess heat. So they are heating themselves up to the point that they must expend additional energy to prevent overheating. Why? One hypothesis is that they do this to heat up the surface of the skin to the point where ectoparasites such as feather mites and lice either die or move. There is some experimental evidence to support this hypothesis. I see it a lot in jays, cardinals, wrens, and doves. Great blue herons and wood storks do a similar behavior, but don't lie down to do it - they open their wings partially to maximize exposure to the sun, and stand facing the sun, often gular fluttering at the same time to get rid of excess heat. Here's a shot of a blue jay in a sunning posture; I wish it was as excellent as your shot, Allen.

Here's a shot of a great blue heron using the "delta-wing" sunning posture. These sunning behaviors seem to be almost reflexively triggered under particular conditions of heat and sun exposure. I often see cardinals or wrens at the feeder actively engaged in eating, and they suddenly stop what they're doing and adopt one of these bizarre sunning postures, sometimes holding it for a minute or so. When they do this, they sometimes are far less skittish than they are usually, as your Steller's jay was.