Perfect Camou For Color and Texture

What do you see?

Is this better?

How about this?

As you can see this American bittern was right by the road. There were cars that stopped to see what we were looking at and we feel certain the occupants never saw it.

To improve its camou, a bittern holds its long beak vertically and blends in perfectly with the reeds. Its eyes are set low on its head, allowing the bittern to see forward when it stands in this pose.

Further down the road, there were two more hunting.

They were both facing the setting sun. I guess that kept their shadow behind them so as to sneak up on prey.

Their diet includes amphibians, reptiles, insects, crayfish, fish and even small mammals. Here is a recording of a bittern’s unusual call; its deep sound resembles some frogs or, some say, a water pump. http://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/American_Bittern/id

 

Thanks for reading to the bittern end.