Birds' defensive techniques

What precautions do birds take to protect themselves?
Which bird species use camouflage to protect themselves?
How do birds use their mimicking techniques to protect 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 lives in 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 given to 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
bushes and start building their nests. This time is lost for the
males, who have become an easy target with their white plumage.
Molting takes 3 to4 weeks. That length of time could prove fatal for
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 no doubt that this changing of color
to match the environment takes place thanks to highly complex
mechanisms created in the birds' bodies, and this gives rise to a
great protective mechanism as these feathers, which are white on
snowy days and 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 gradually
lowers its tail and inserts it 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 of the bird is
that it can see with 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's attention 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, the burrowing 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 danger it 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 hoopoe against many
diseases.
The locust bird, or wattled starling, lives in Africa in spherical
nests. They generally build their nests among thorny branches in
order to deter predators. It is not, of course, the bird itself that
comes up with the idea of building its nest among thorns. As He does
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 the
females. 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 those of their surroundings and their forms of camouflage make
it hard to see them even from quite close up. Male ducks use their
brightly colored feathers to protect the nest-building females by
attracting the attention of predators. When a predator approaches
the nest, the male immediately takes off, making a lot of noise and
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 live together in flocks; this communal life has
a very powerful effect. For example, when starlings sense the
presence of an approaching hawk they immediately press together and
assume the form 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 has very few blood vessels, so
even if the snake does bite it, the bird will not be harmed. It is
Allah who inspires all the behavior of secretary birds, which have
a most interesting 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 in order 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.