Garter snakes know how to do it. Mariposa Lily seeds do it. Water knows how to do it, too. In each case, appearances are deceiving, as an obvious thing is revealed (a […]
Hiding in Plain Sight
Hiding in Plain Sight: a Story with a Rosy Future
So, let’s say you want to eat wild rose petals, but don’t want to get eaten in turn and aren’t, say, as big as a mule deer and so, as far as […]
Hide in Plain Sight!
Want to avoid being seen? Be a knot hole. Hey, it beats hanging out under the bark. Downy Woodpecker can hear you under there. Be bold! Hide in plain sight. Pretend to […]
Please, Please, Please Don’t Plant That Lavender!
If you plant that lavender, the crab spiders will have nowhere to go, and they are the wolves of this ecosystem. Removing the top predator from a chain, in this case a […]
Lessons On Blending In at a Stag Party in Coyote Country
You can hide behind stuff. Sure, you might get spotted, but I bet that most times you don’t. And, in the end, the sagebrush masks one’s intentions. In a landscape that’s a […]
Loons Confusing Eagles
I’ve watched loons intimately for 25 years, and I just noticed a couple of splendid bits of camouflage for the first time. The light was right. First, the tail. Not only does […]
Butterfly Spook
Claws. Or beauty. The second is how humans see.
Camouflage is the Wrong Word
Camouflage is the military art of concealment. As a word it has been back-engineered to apply to the actions of animals, like the toad below. The toad is not concealing itself, though. […]
Who’s Who Out There
Yellow Jacket Wasp Because of her mighty sting, she’s a good one to imitate. This beetle is doing well by it. So is this mantid fly. In return, wasp pretends to be […]
Sagebrush Moose
Blending in. Got a problem with that? McLaughlin Canyon Road, Okanogan County, Washington
Okanagan Okanogan 