Which bird species use camouflage to protect themselves?
How do birds use their mimicking techniques toprotect themselves from enemies?
Allah has created every life form with different abilities to protect
themselves from enemies. Camouflage is one of these defensive
techniques. Birds, like some other life forms, make use of this
defensive technique inspired in them by Allah.
The Camouflage Technique That Makes Protection Easier:
The Sun bittern that livesin the rain forests of South America uses
visual signals to protect itself. When approached,the bird suddenly
raises its tail and spreads its wings as wide as it can. This exposes
large spots on the wings, resembling eyes. This sudden movement
frightens predators and causes them to run away.
The pearl-spotted owlet, which has eye-shaped spots on the back of its
head, is another species that mimics large eyes. This imitation face
givento the owl deters predators seeking to sneak up from behind.
The ptarmigan that lives in the Arctic tundra is almost invisible in
winter thanks to its white plumage. Only its black eyes, resembling
pieces of rock, and its black beak can be seen against the snow. When
the snow starts to melt, these birds need to change color right
away.Changing color by molting generally takes a long time, and the
birds collect together on patches of melting snow for greater safety.
For that reason, the females shed their plumage first. As soon as the
females have molted they fly toward the scrub bushesand start building
their nests. This time is lost forthe males, who have become an easy
target with their white plumage. Molting takes 3to4 weeks. That length
of time could prove fatalfor the males. However, the males have
discovered a way of turning from white to brown in just a few minutes.
They turn their feathers from white to brown by diving into a puddle
of mud and thus match their new environment. There is nodoubt that
this changingof color to match the environment takes placethanks to
highly complexmechanisms created in the birds' bodies, and this gives
rise to a great protective mechanism asthese feathers, which are white
on snowy daysand earth colored in other seasons, provide a great
advantage in terms of camouflage.
The bird known as the patoo supports its mimicry with actions. It
lands on a log and is indistinguishable from that log, which is the
same color as its feathers. But when approached, it begins moving in
such a way as to perfect that mimicry even further. It graduallylowers
its tail and insertsit into a hole in the log. In this way it becomes
unclear where the log stops and the bird begins. It then, equally
slowly, raises its head until its beak is perpendicular, and it closes
its eyes. The bird remain frozen and immobile even at just 90
centimeters away. One distinguishing feature ofthe bird is that it can
seewith its eyes closed. There are very small vertical slits in both
eyelids. These protect the bird's sensitive eyes against the sunlight
and thus enable it to see the environment around it.
Specially Secure Nests
Nutcracker birds open nest holes in the soft wood of dead trees. They
have developed an effective protection against nest thieves. After
opening a hole, a nutcracker collects mud from a nearby puddle and
plasters the entrance to the nest with it. It leaves just enough room
for a nutcracker to wriggle through. In this way, larger birds such as
starlings are unable to enter the nest through that hole.
Plovers build their nests on the ground and are therefore exposed to
any number of threats. Whenever a cat, dog or fox approaches, the
plover leaves one of its wings immobile and drags it along the ground,
giving the impression it is trying to flee with only one wing. Once it
has completely distracted the predator'sattention and drawn it away
from the nest it will then fly away itself. Not only the plover but
quite a few species of bird adapt a similar technique in dealing with
predators.
As its name suggests, theburrowing owl, lives in burrows it digs in
the ground itself or those abandoned by other animals. The burrowing
owl faces many predators, such as jackals, cats and stoats. Whenever a
burrowing owl feels itself in dangerit adopts a most interesting
strategy. For example, if a fox starts digging up a burrow belong to a
burrowing owl, the owl starts hissing like a snake and frightens the
predator off.
Allah has created the hoopoe with an unpleasant-smelling scent gland.
They rub the foul smelling fluid from these glands on their feathers
and thus keep predators at bay. This fluid also possesses
antibacterial properties and protects the hoopoeagainst many diseases.
The locust bird, or wattled starling, lives in Africa in spherical
nests. They generally build their nests among thorny branches in
orderto deter predators. It is not, of course, the bird itself that
comes up withthe idea of building its nest among thorns. As Hedoes
with all other life forms too, Allah inspires the locust bird to build
its nest in such a way as to protect itself.
Male ducks always have a much brighter plumage than that of
thefemales. This is an important source of protection for females
incubating their eggs in the nest because thanks to their muted
coloring they are in greater safety in their nests as predators cannot
see them as easily. The muted colors of the females that match thoseof
their surroundings and their forms of camouflage make it hardto see
them even from quite close up. Male ducks use their brightly colored
feathers to protect the nest-buildingfemales by attracting
theattention of predators. When a predator approaches the nest,
themale immediately takes off, making a lot of noiseand doing all it
can to turn the predator away from the nest.
When a predator approaches, goldfinches and blackbirds send a warning
by emitting powerful calls. This loud noise and mass movement
neutralizes birds of prey and causes them to move away from the flock.
Small birds generally livetogether in flocks; this communal life has a
verypowerful effect. For example, when starlings sense the presence of
anapproaching hawk they immediately press together and assume theform
of a black cloud. There is nothing the predator bird can do in the
face of this large mass.
Secretary birds only live in Africa. They furnish the nests they build
in trees and high places with leaves, grasses and feathers and renew
these materials every year. Secretary birds mainly feed on snakes,
which they hunt using a most interesting technique. When a secretary
bird encounters a snake, it attacks the snake and tries to kill it
with its claws, without using its beak. If the snake is poisonous, the
secretary bird will use its wings to keep it at a distance and try to
get the snake to swallow a few feathers in order to empty its poison
sac. If it succeeds,the venom is expended harmlessly and it cannot
harm the bird. The secretary bird then attacks the snake, which has
used up most of its venom and therefore no longer represents a danger,
again using its claws. The surface of the secretary birds claws
hasvery few blood vessels, so even if the snake doesbite it, the bird
will not be harmed. It is Allah who inspires all the behavior of
secretary birds, which have a mostinteresting hunting technique and
are even able to cope with poisonous snakes.
These defensive and hunting techniques possessed by birds are just one
example showing that there is no "incompatibility or inconsistency" in
the universe created by Allah, as well as His infinite might and
omniscience. Allah reveals this flawless harmony in the universe as
follows in Surat al-Mulk :
"... You will not find any flaw in the creation of the All-Merciful.
Look again – do you see any gaps?
Then look again and again. Your sight will return to you dazzled and
exhausted!" (Surat al-Mulk, 3–4)
One of the techniques that living things have inorder to survive is
camouflage, the art of self-concealment. Living things need to conceal
themselves for two reasons. The first is when they are prey, and the
second when they are predators. The most important difference between
camouflage and other techniques is that it involves an enormous
intelligence, skill and harmony.
Living things that camouflage themselves have been placed under
special protection with their body structures, shapes, colors and
patterns that closely match their surroundings. Some of these have
bodies that so perfectly match their environments that it is almost
impossible to distinguish them from the plants around them.
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