“…Anting assists birds in cleaning and preserving their plumages (Morozov, 2015; Powlesland, 1982), aids in maturation, and relieves skin irritation (Potter, 1970; Revis, 2002). The jungle babbler ( A. striata ) and the Indian myna ( A. tristis ) forage during the day (Mahabal and Vaidya, 1989; Yambem and Jain, 2023), chirp frequently (Ali and Ripley, 1983; Gaston, 1977), and often forage in pairs or small groups (Federspiel et al, 2017). Since they frequently predate O. smaragdina during the day, it is possible to hypothesize that the ant makes an energetic trade-off to deal with the predation pressure of birds and shifts their foraging activity to nighttime.…”