A Robin Bathing

On this hot day birds were lining up to take a bath. Daily maintenance, bathing, dusting and preening, is an important part of keeping their feathers in top shape. This sequence of an American Robin that bathing shows how it goes about getting clean.

Once it decided it was safe to proceed it plunged in head first.

Then it sat down in the water and lifted its head up, shaking it vigorously to disperse the water. It happens so fast its head looks like a spinning top!

Next, it spread water over its body and wings. Here it has just snapped its right wing and releasing water. The image has captured the water droplets forming the shape of the wing. You can see the long primaries and the outline of the secondaries – really cool!

Once all the parts have had a good clean, three times in the case of this individual, it sat fluffed out in the water for a short time before flying to the safety of nearby shrubs to finish drying itself.