Peekaboo Plovers
Can you spot these baby birds?
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The salt flats of Bahia de Ceuta on the west coast of Mexico are, as the name implies, flat. They are also bare. Very little vegetation dots the landscape, so, as a bird nesting site, the area has a major shortcoming. Snowy plover chicks have practically nowhere to hide from coyotes, feral dogs, raccoons, and other predators.
Plover chicks look like balls of dandelion fluff that have sprouted toothpicks for legs. Some scientists hypothesize that such flocculence—a fancy word for fluff—obscures the outlines of the baby birds’ bodies, allowing them to hide in plain sight. Camouflage is their ticket to survival.
Knowing that plover chicks’ lives depend on fading into the background, German researchers wondered whether days-old plover chicks know how to select spots where they’re well obscured. In a new study, the researchers analyzed photographs of 44 chicks in hiding to see how well they blended into the scenery.