Ablutions

I haven't posted one of these images of a Mute Swan washing its armpits for quite a while now - largely because I tend to assume that it's the kind of thing everyone sees all the time. But the other day when I was standing at the river, photographing Tufted Ducks, a young tourist came to talk to me and asked me lots of questions about the swans - because, he said, there were virtually none in his part of Germany. So my assumption that they're common everywhere is clearly wrong.

I've noticed that the best time to catch a Mute Swan bathing is in the morning, especially if it's sunny. Something about a bright start to the day seems to make a swan want to smarten itself up, a process that usually starts with it having a good rummage through its back and wing feathers, combing or nibbling them with its bill. This straightens the feathers, reconnects any disconnected barbules, and coats the feathers with preen oil, which the swan collects on its bill from a gland above its tail feathers. Preen oil lubricates feathers and helps to keep them waterproof, and it's thought that it also helps to protect birds against parasites.

After some combing and fluffing, the swan will start to bathe. This can be quite a lengthy process, involving the bird dipping itself repeatedly under the water, rolling around on the surface, and beating its wings hard on the water so as to to drive it deep into the feathers. The beating action is the most photogenic part of the process, especially when the wings are moving asynchronously, when the bird tends to look as if it's doing an enthusiastic but ungainly dance, or playing an especially furious drum solo. At intervals the washing will pause, while the swan does some more preening of its damp feathers. Then it usually lifts itself way up in the water (which must involve a great deal of strength), stretches its neck, spreads its wings, and shakes everything out - before going back to the beginning and running through the whole performance again.

The one thing I've never seen a Mute Swan manage to do is a complete barrel roll. Bewick's Swans are very skilled at this, and though they look ridiculous when they're lying upside down on the water surface with their legs waving in the air, it's presumably very effective in getting their back feathers thoroughly clean. (Also, they seem to really enjoy doing it.) But Mute Swans are bigger, and I think perhaps more bottom-heavy (not that I have any room to talk), so maybe for them a complete roll is just too difficult.