There is something almost magical about watching a bird meticulously preen itself. A White-browed Robin-Chat pauses between bursts of its melodic song to carefully draw each feather through its bill. A Hamerkop stretches a wing impossibly wide, inspecting every feather with deliberate precision. Even the most energetic swifts and swallows, seemingly forever on the wing, somehow find time to maintain their plumage. To the casual observer, it might seem like little more than avian vanity, when in reality, it is far more; in fact, it is a matter of survival.

Incrementally Imperceptible Change