Bird Watching: What Is This Bird Doing?, 1 by P_Edens

P_Edens wrote:
Need some help from the DG bird experts.

I was watching some Scissor-tailed Flycatchers out at Galveston State Park a few days ago. They would fly up into the sky, twist and turn and catch a bug and then fly back to a perch to dine. Fun to watch.

This bird was perched on a small stick and just kept fluttering his wings while holding tightly to the perch. He never took off, just revved his engine in preparation for takeoff.

What is he doing?

These images are cropped quite a bit.