Swallow Splash

Some swallows - like this Barn Swallow - occasionally plunge into the water for a brief instant. I've also observed this behavior from Cliff swallows and Violet-green swallows at this same pond.

 

I haven't been able to determine what purpose motivates this behavior. It's possible the swallows are bathing. I've noticed that this activity occurs in flurries, but with no discernible rhyme or reason to it. Perhaps the birds are cooling off, or showing off.

 

When they drink, swallows fly very low to the water, open their gaping mouths, and let the lower beak skim along the water's surface, a patterned behavior quite distinct from what we see pictured here, where the birds seem to bounce off the water's surface. I've also observed (barn) swallows occasionally snatching a water-strider from the pond's surface, but again, the "signature" of that activity is quite distinct from this.

 

Maybe the swallow just enjoys seeing its own splash, and after thinking about this for awhile, I believe this is simply how swallows bathe.

 

 

Done