There is a lot of talk about lockdown fatigue on the news at the moment. Perhaps this is what this magpie is feeling?!
I photographed this bird from my ‘office’ (aka the dining room) window after we returned from one of our walks last week. I noticed this bird preening in the warm evening sun and was delighted that it stayed put while I grabbed the camera, faffed around with the window lock and half hung out of the window to compose my shot. It wasn’t bothered at all and I was able to take a variety of portraits, with this big yawn being my favourite.
There are many theories why just about every vertebrate animal yawns, but the precise reason remains a mystery. In humans, it’s been suggested that it increases oxygen to the brain, it helps to keep us awake or it prepares our brain for sleep but none of these reasons has been proved.
Experiments with rats and budgerigars have shown that yawning could be thermoregulatory behaviour; these research subjects yawned more frequently in warmer conditions. The experiments with rats showed spikes in brain temperature before their yawns and were followed by cooler readings. I’m no scientist, but this certainly could have explained why this bird was yawning while sitting in strong sunlight on a warm evening.