A Flock of Camouflaged Shorebirds
Camouflage
I remember teaching a Grade 9 Science class years ago about camouflage in nature. This was before the advent of the Internet, so the best photos I could come up with were things that a group of kids in a fishing town could identify with – photos of flounder and other fish that dwell on the bottom, and the camouflage they use and have evolved to have to hide from predators. In this particular school, the lesson went over well with many in the class, as quite a few were avid hunters, and so the lesson on camouflage was well received.
This past week, Norma and I went to the Annapolis Valley, and we stopped at Evangeline Beach to see if I could find some shorebirds to get photos of them on their migration. Unfortunately, on this day there weren’t many flying around, but when we looked carefully…
The image is of the beach itself, and if you look carefully, you may be able to count the more than 5 dozen birds in the picture! Camouflaged like this, the shorebirds are safer from predators, as they certainly do blend in.
Nature is amazing, but sometimes you really have to look to observe its wonders.
