Many examples of this fascinating Dove behavior. Mourning Doves have interesting bathing habits in the wild that are not well-documented.
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First, they taking their bathing seriously and have the peculiar habit of raising one wing straight up high for a few seconds usually followed by raising the other wing. I see this all the time in the mountain spring. This wing raising behavior has been noted before sometimes in artificial birdbaths - but the reason is not at all universal or agreed upon.
In this case, these are forest doves high in the Great Smoky Mountains and it is clearly a part of their bathing ritual, it is not like sunning that you sometimes see in the bright sunlight in the lawn where they try and expose as much of their feathers as possible to freshen them up and reduce feather infesting bugs etc. This is in the deep shade. Nor is it any kind of defensive or territorial display in this context - rather it is very low key and relaxing and often done when they are alone. They are beautiful birds and it is a beautiful sight to see them raising their powerful wings in such a manner. It is not like they get the under wings and armpits- if you will - wet and they don't raise them long enough to seriously dry or air them out – but of course the Doves know what they are doing and it is certainly related to overall fitness hygiene and maybe just enjoying a good bath.
Another odd habit Mourning Doves have - especially when there are a few of them - is they use the bathing hole in the stream like a be-day and regularly poop in the water and leaving an oily residue on top of the water to swirl around and gradually work downstream. More sensitive birds like robins are not too happy about this habit and will move on to cleaner water.
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