I've had countless conversations with many swans in the 39 years they've been my neighbor. Theirs is a simple language. So simple that even I, a slow learner, swiftly caught on. Their spoken vocabulary is limited to just two words: "arf" and "hiss." In high flight, "arf, arf, arf" means "We are going south, come join us." A plaintive "aaarrff" when the swan is caught in ice means just what you'd think. It means "HELP." "Hissss" needs no explanation - just don't mess with a bird that is hissing at you.
Swanese is essentially a posture language while my usual method of communicating is verbal. I've tried some posture responses but end up feeling like a fool. When I dip my head (which means "hello") the swan never fails to dip back, sometimes two and three dips per bird. My neck aches if I try to outdip them so I settle on one dip per greeting.
After the pleasantries comes Caesar's puffed up, in your face, show-me-what-you've-got look. He's saying, "I see the dinner pail -- let's have it." Whereupon I empty the wheat bucket into the water and begin shuffling bread slices one at a time.
If there is an interloper in the area (a goose or another swan), Caesar and Cleotoo will tell me about it by busking. In this attitude the feathers are greatly puffed out, the wings are fanned upwards, and their heads are tucked in close to the body while their feet churn the water at warp speed. It's the Starship Enterprise with feathers. There is no posture for Ma and Pa swan disagreements so that must mean they never disagree. They never fight with one another or display family animosity. Such behavior is simply not in their "vocabulary." Wouldn't it be nice if we, who speak languages, could, by removing bad words, remove bad behavior?
I'm leading up to the nicest posture of all and that is the courting posture. Swans communicate their affection beautifully by intertwining their graceful necks and then bobbing under water. This twining and bobbing is carried on in February and March followed by nest building.
Cleotoo has two postures which signal "female7' instantly. She maintains a more curved neck so that she appears smaller than Caesar. This is typical of all species to want to appear petite. The other female posture is the head held up very high, leading a row of bobbing cygnets. This is the "pure pride posture." There are other subtle Swanese conversations that I interpret. For instance, cygnets are very playful and their favorite game is "Follow the Leader." Dinnertime, which lasts all day, is full of conversation as both proper and improper foods are discussed. They can even tell, by moping, that they just don't feel 100%.
I'm trying to say that while our languages are so very different I can understand the swans fairly well but just how much English they have learned from me I can only guess -- after all, they are Mutes.