Super Secret Undercover Bird

[bunn]

I think it is a woodcock.

It looked very outraged that I had spotted it.  I took this photo,  confirming its suspicion that I really was looking at it, and it flew off in disgust before I could get closer. Brythen didn't see it at all until it flew, and made a huge surprised bounce when it took wing.

Comments

[ladyofastolat.livejournal.com]

Gosh, that's very impressive hiding. In the first picture, my prime candidate for the bird was actually the leaf that's on the extreme left of the final picture. It does look a little like a grey bird looking upwards with its whitish neck.

I bet Undercover Bird was plotting something.

[alitheapipkin.livejournal.com]

Yes, my eye was trying to spot it there too :)

[parrot-knight.livejournal.com]

Likewise!

[alitheapipkin.livejournal.com]

And yes, it is a woodcock - very well spotted :)

[wellinghall.livejournal.com]

Agreed.

[puddleshark.livejournal.com]

I could see it in the second shot, but then I suspected I was looking for a woodcock.

Gorgeous birds. Pip used to spring one every now and then, much to his delight.

[bunn.livejournal.com]

Mine have no instinct for birds at all. Even gulls on a beach are usually not considered worth the chasing.

[osprey-archer.livejournal.com]

I thought I saw it...and then I got to the third shot and realized that the thing I thought was a bird was actually a gray leaf, and the bird was off to its right. Impressive camouflage!

[ideserveyou.livejournal.com]

You lucky thing - I didn't spot it until I got to the third photo. Haven't seen a woodcock in absolutely ages... although of course that doesn't mean they weren't there!

[bunn.livejournal.com]

I'm now wondering just how many woodcocks I've walked straight past, with them looking at me down their long beaks and thinking : "Haha! Invisible Woodcock Wins Again!"

[kargicq.livejournal.com]

V cool. Would have used it in our British Science Festival workshop on mimicry and camouflage - we had a whole set of such conundrums for the kids. -N.