Did this bird suffer an injury playing “Duck, Duck, GOOSE”? No, this beautiful goose, soaking in the sun recently at Robinhood Park, is perfectly healthy and was just doing what birds do — a maneuver called Thermoregulation. Birds stand on one leg like this to regulate their body temperature by pushing hot blood to the legs where it is cooled by the surrounding environment. During sleep, they tuck one leg under the body to reduce the amount of heat lost through the legs. Since they are not active and metabolism has slowed they are at risk of becoming hyopthermic. At least this is the case for the wild birds that deal with drastic temperature changes. Interesting, however, is the fact that even pet birds kept inside do this as well — it is an instinctively wise behavior — even if the room is warm enough.