A wet bird!

 

I watched the grooming process of a Magpie robin in our garden, which was fully drenched and probably immobilised due to difficulty to fly with soaked wings. 

With the mild sunshine on their body and with flapping of wings, in about fifteen minutes, the robin was partly flight ready. 

Often birds secure a shelter before the rain fall to protect the wings and feathers from getting wet. Most birds oil their feathers that the rain drops get deflected from their body. 

I have occasionally seen birds glide from a height with the wet wings and not being able to fly with outstretched wings. The balancing of the body during the gliding movement looked difficult, especially when the wind is no in their favour! 

It was an occasion to become little more familiar with the resilient and enduring experience of a bird in bad weather!

M.C.Mathew(text and photo)