Camouflaged Creatures
View allAll Photos Tagged cryptic
Camouflage, also called cryptic coloration, is a defense or tactic that organisms use to disguise their appearance, usually to blend in with their surroundings. Organisms use camouflage to mask their location, identity, and movement. This allows prey to avoid predators, and for predators to sneak up on prey.
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As its name suggests, the Cryptic Wood White butterfly is very difficult to distinguish from the Wood White. This species only occurs in Ireland, where it is widespread. It was discovered to be different from the Wood White in 2001 and, more recently, its identification was changed again to this new name. The Wood White is very similar, but seems to be restricted to the Burren region in Ireland.
This example of Cryptic Wood White was one of many seen along the banks of the River Barrow in County Kilkenny.
Thanks for your visit… Any comment you make on my photograph is greatly appreciated and encouraging! But please do not use this image without permission.
The cryptically speckled upperparts and finely barred underparts of the Wryneck are breathtakingly beautiful in their subtlety. I photographed this bird searching for food amongst the weeds and grasses that border the shingle at Lepe.
Thank you all for your kind responses.
Trinidad
Golden tegus are one of the largest land based lizards in South America. Their thick body is covered with glossy scales that are striped with orange and black. They have a thick tail which makes up as much as half of their body length.
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The Cryptic Golden Tegu was once considered conspecific with the Golden Tegu. The Golden Tegu was split into three new species in 2019 or so.
Golden Tegus grow to be about 60 to 100 cm long on average, and up to 3.5 to 4.0 kg in weight, with a glossy body, powerful limbs and a thick tail. They have many black and gold stripes down their bodies. Golden Tegus live in the tropical forests of northern and central South America, as well as in Panama. They feed on insects, other invertebrates, small mammals, other reptiles and birds, as well as fish and sometimes fruit. (Wikipedia)
Speyside, Tobago, Trinidad and Tobago. January 2016.
Cryptic colouring provides the Grayling with excellent camouflage, making it difficult to see when at rest on bare ground, tree trunks, or stones. The wings are kept closed when not in flight and the forewings are usually tucked behind the hind wings, concealing the eyespots and making the butterfly appear smaller. In flight this is a distinctive, large butterfly with a looping and gliding flight, during which the paler bands on the upperwings are visible.
Taken at The Bog, Stiperstones,
Shrewsbury
Masterfully camouflaged nightbird. Active at night and rarely seen by chance, but might be flushed from daytime roost on the ground. Favors heathland and forest clearings, where it hunts from perch on ground or tree, sallying out and flying with agile, rather jerky wingbeats. Shape resembles a cuckoo or falcon, but plumage is cryptic, like dead leaves. Male has white tail corners and white band in wing. Loud churring song at dusk and night may draw attention. (eBird)
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Seen in the light from the headlights of our vehicle as we were heading for our lodge for the night. The nightjar just sat on the road, waiting for an unlucky moth to fly by.
Mole National Park, Ghana. March 2019.
Ashanti African Tours.
The Cryptic Wood White only occurs in Ireland. It was discovered to be different from the Wood White in 2001 and, more recently, its identification was changed again to this new name. The Wood White is very similar, but seems to be restricted to the Burren region in Ireland.
The upperwings are white with rounded edges. The males have a black mark in the edge of the forewing. The undersides are white, with indistinct grey or greenish markings.
Cryptic Plumage
Brown Creepers can seem to disappear against a tree trunk as they move up from base. I like the feather detail in this shot which is best seen if the zoom tool is used.
Edmonton, Alberta
The cicadas are a superfamily, the Cicadoidea, of insects in the order Hemiptera (true bugs). They are in the suborder Auchenorrhyncha, along with smaller jumping bugs such as leafhoppers and froghoppers. The superfamily is divided into two families, the Tettigarctidae, with two species in Australia, and the Cicadidae, with more than 3,000 species described from around the world; many species remain undescribed.
Cicadas have prominent eyes set wide apart, short antennae, and membranous front wings. They have an exceptionally loud song, produced in most species by the rapid buckling and unbuckling of drumlike tymbals. The earliest known fossil Cicadomorpha appeared in the Upper Permian period; extant species occur all around the world in temperate to tropical climates. They typically live in trees, feeding on watery sap from xylem tissue, and laying their eggs in a slit in the bark. Most cicadas are cryptic. The vast majority of species are active during the day as adults, with some calling at dawn or dusk. Only a rare few species are known to be nocturnal.
One exclusively North American genus, Magicicada (the periodical cicadas), which spend most of their lives as underground nymphs, emerge in predictable intervals of 13 or 17 years, depending on the species and the location. The unusual duration and synchronization of their emergence may reduce the number of cicadas lost to predation, both by making them a less reliably available prey (so that any predator that evolved to depend on cicadas for sustenance might starve waiting for their emergence), and by emerging in such huge numbers that they will sate any remaining predators before losing enough of their number to threaten their survival as a species.
The annual cicadas are species that emerge every year. Though these cicadas' life cycles can vary from 1–9 or more years as underground larvae, their emergence above ground as adults is not synchronized, so some members of each species appear every year.
Cicadas have been featured in literature since the time of Homer's Iliad and as motifs in art from the Chinese Shang dynasty. They have also been used in myth and folklore as symbols of carefree living and immortality. The cicada is also mentioned in Hesiod's Shield (ll.393–394), in which it is said to sing when millet first ripens. Cicadas are eaten by humans in various countries, including China, where the nymphs are served deep-fried in Shandong cuisine.
Class: Insecta
Kingdom: Animalia
Order: Hemiptera
Phylum: Arthropoda
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A small olive-gray honeyeater with a circular pale yellow cheek patch and a relatively fine bill. Can be confused with Lewin’s Honeyeater and Yellow-spotted Honeyeater, but note the shape of the cheek patch: crescent-shaped on Lewin’s Honeyeater and oval on Yellow-spotted Honeyeater. Adults also have a blue-gray eye while Lewin’s has a bluish eye and Yellow-spotted has a brown eye. Voice is a key ID feature—often a single short note rather than the loud repeated whistle of Yellow-spotted or the rapid staccato machine-gun call of Lewin’s. One of three easily confusable species found in far northern Queensland. Common in many wetter lowland habitats in wetter parts of northern Queensland. Formerly considered conspecific with Graceful Honeyeater, but no overlap in range. (eBird)
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A throwback to our birding trip in Australia in 2022. This lovely little honeyeater was one that we had to study for, to ensure that we ID'd it correctly. Luckily, he posed nicely for us so that we clearly see his identifying marks.
Kingfisher Park Birdwatcher's Lodge, Tablelands, Queensland, Australia. October 2022.
Eagle-eye Tours - Eastern Australia.
The Cryptic Wood White only occurs in Ireland. It was discovered to be different from the Wood White in 2001 and, more recently, its identification was changed again to this new name. The Wood White is very similar, but seems to be restricted to the Burren region in Ireland.
The upperwings are white with rounded edges. The males have a black mark in the edge of the forewing. The undersides are white, with indistinct grey or greenish markings.
Sorry about the cryptic title, but the circular brown rock here reminded me of "cheerio" breakfast cereal and the outgoing milky flow of sea water made it look like breakfast!
This was another memorable image I took from ny evening at Porth Nanven in Cornwall. I had the place all to myself as the weather immediately prior to sunset had been pretty awful with rain and thick cloud. So I hadn't expected to get much in the way of images apart from maybe a LE Shot. As it turned out it was a beautiful sunset and the conditions improved as you can see here!
Sorry to be cryptic yesterday and thanks for the good wishes. I'm not really into sharing my problems (with anyone!) so I'll just say I'm trying to deal with some demons and make some changes in my life.
It's been an up and down day today - I'm trying to take each day as it comes.
The attractive, arresting, pleasing, and also the cryptic and camouflaged patterns of butterflies and moths are the ancestral form of pointillism, a style of painting that reached its zenith around 1890. But butterflies and moths were perfecting this art form 300 million to 100 million years ago, using colored scales rather than dots of color.
See the antecedent to pointillism by zooming in on this lichen moth, Leuconycta diphteroides (I think), which uses black, white, grey and green scales to accumulate a convincing likeness of a lichen. Not a bad imitation of rough concrete, either.
Well, the 'Bombus terrestris group' of Bumblebees has four kinds that are very difficult to distinguish from each other; hence my 'cryptic'. First I thought perhaps Olymp's Bee was a 'Cryptic', which in Dutch is known as the Wilgenhommel, Willow Bumblebee. My patch of Ground Ivy happened to be directly under a copse of Willows. But looking more carefully at my insect I though its tongue was rather too long for the Cryptic Bumblebee. So then I thought perhaps 'Lucorum', or even specific 'Terrestris'. But I just couldn't choose. So I'll just leave you with the general name of Bombus terrestris, which covers for four very similar Beasties.
🍹🔥✨ [*80Days* In A Galaxy] ✨🔥🍹
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Tiny, cryptic woodland songbird, unique in North America. White below and streaked brown-and-buff above; blends into tree bark very easily. Also note narrow, decurved bill and long tail. In flight, shows a bold buffy wing stripe. When foraging, often starts near the base of a tree trunk, hitches upward in short, jerky motions until it nears the top, then flies to the base of a nearby tree to begin the process again. Found in mature woodland, especially with conifers. Often joins mixed flocks with other songbirds, especially in winter. Listen for high, thin calls and sweet cascading song. (eBird)
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Walking along the trail, we heard the call of the creeper, so began the usually fruitless attempt to actually see it. A hint of motion and there it was on this huge old tree. Then the attempt to photograph it. For a change, I was successful and got a couple of shots as it searched under the branch for lunch.
Andrew Haydon Park, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. September 2023.
I didn't take this photo intending to do anything with it. It was taken in store even, but I got inspired to see if I could edit it in photoshop. This was the result.
Island Of Madagascar
Off The East Coast Of Africa
Palmarium Reserve
Two Chameleons Cryptic Chameleon (Calumma crypticum) And O'shaughnessy's Chameleon (Calumma oshaughnessyi) side by side on a branch at the reserve.
O'Shaughnessy's chameleon (Calumma oshaughnessyi) is a species of chameleon endemic to Madagascar. It was named after the British poet and herpetologist Arthur O'Shaughnessy.
O'Shaughnessy's chameleon has a range of about 18,000 square kilometers throughout the southeastern portion of the central highlands of Madagascar. Its distribution extends from Tsinjoarivo, Ambatolampy in the north to Andohahela National Park in the south. The species is highly dependent on intact, humid forest as its habitat, living in lower densities on selectively logged territories.
Calumma crypticum, commonly known as the cryptic chameleon, is a species of chameleon found in Madagascar.
The species is endemic to Madagascar and has a broad latitudinal distribution between the Anosy Mountains in the south and the Tsaratanana Massif in the north.
It is a forest chameleon that occurs in mid-altitudes between 1,050 and 1,850 m elevation, where it appears to be more abundant in semi-open areas associated with trails, gaps and rivers.
The chameleon species is only found in humid forest and the loss or severe degradation of these habitats due to agricultural conversion and logging is a threat, especially outside of protected areas.
Cryptic night bird, more often heard than seen. Listen for namesake song, a whistled "whip-poor-WILL," repeated endlessly. Found in forests, often with a mixture of pines and deciduous trees with open areas nearby for foraging. Forages for flying insects from the ground at night. Intricately patterned with gray, brown, and black. Similar to Chuck-will's-widow but with smaller head and shorter wings and tail. Eastern and Mexican Whip-poor-wills were recently split into separate species; they differ mainly in voice and do not overlap in range.
This bird was caught in a major storm overnight. The tree branch it was sitting on broke, and it ended up on the ground.
Bronte Bluffs Park, Burlington, Ontario, Canada. May 2018.
Cryptic messages in this long abandoned farmhouse have some roots in reality....Happy window Wednesday everyone!
Squat, cryptically-plumaged shorebird with a very long bill. Inhabits a wide range of wetland habitats, from damp meadows to saltmarshes. Mostly inconspicuous, feeding in muddy ground by probing with its bill, usually near reeds or other grassy cover. Often not seen until flushed, when it usually rises from fairly close range with a rough rasping call. Breeding birds are more conspicuous, perching on fence posts. In display flight, birds stoop from high overhead and produce a pulsating, bleating sound from air passing through their fanned tail. In Asia, beware of extremely similar Pin-tailed, Swinhoe's, and Latham's Snipes, all of which lack the white trailing edge of Common and have a slower, less erratic flight. (eBird)
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Another Dubai visitor, this snipe was probing the grassy areas through the wetland. I'm always pleased to see a snipe out in the open like this.
Ras al-Khor Wildlife Sanctuary, Dubai, UAE. March 2024.
Island Of Madagascar
Off the East Coast of Africa
Palmarium Reserve
Our guide had to show us where this chameleon was at the reserve. We could not have found it on our own.
Calumma crypticum, commonly known as the cryptic chameleon, is a species of chameleon found in Madagascar.
The species is endemic to Madagascar and has a broad latitudinal distribution between the Anosy Mountains in the south and the Tsaratanana Massif in the north.
It is a forest chameleon that occurs in mid-altitudes between 1,050 and 1,850 m elevation, where it appears to be more abundant in semi-open areas associated with trails, gaps and rivers.
The chameleon species is only found in humid forest and the loss or severe degradation of these habitats due to agricultural conversion and logging is a threat, especially outside of protected areas.
A few days ago I posted a shot of a Coyote trotting through a fresh coating of snow in Grand Teton National Park. About five minutes prior to that shot, I had been photographing a herd of bison when I heard the familiar call of a Long-billed Curlew. The bird blended in to the setting so well it took me a while to spot it. The curlew's camouflage is impressive in any grassy setting but even more so with a dusting of snow. Once I finally spotted it, I was able to get a few shots before it flew off.
Potoo: Potoos are nocturnal birds related to the nightjars and frogmouths. They have amazing camouflage that makes them look like the end of a branch. "They are sometimes called poor-me-ones, after their haunting calls." - Wikipedia
©R.C. Clark: Dancing Snake Nature Photography
All rights reserved
Costa Rica
with NatureOdysseyWorldwide.com
Here is a link to hear their unique call: www.hbw.com/…/common-potoo…/bird-calling-once-branch
A cryptically patterned Senegal Thick-knee seeks cover in long grass near Brenu Beach in Ghana, West Africa. The Senegal Thick-knee is a stone-curlew, a group of waders in the family Burhinidae. It is a resident breeder in Africa between the Sahara and the equator, and in the Nile valley.
Thanks for your visit… Any comment you make on my photograph is greatly appreciated and encouraging! But please do not use this image without permission.
Painting is an illusion, a piece of magic, so what you see is not what you see. Philip Guston
Soundtrack : www.youtube.com/watch?v=JnEpc0D5AKc
IN MY SECRET LIFE sung by KATIE MELUA
Alternative Soundtrack : www.youtube.com/watch?v=NW7oNpzBSGc&feature=youtu.be
IN MY SECRET LIFE by LEONARD COHEN
(Pensée Secréte)
If love is just an (illusion); I (question the reason) why
my (secret thoughts) inside my mind were ever allowed to die
We (established) a collusion.
I knew (better) than to ask him why
our (simple) souls and (journey)
would cause a (sanglanté) hue and cry
I have come to the conclusion that he out-(manoeuvre)d my
attempts to win him over (even) though he didn't try.
I was under the delusion that he (could) and would not lie,
but love just caused confusion and left me high and dry.
Was our bridge (of) spinal fusion?
Were we conjoined twins he and I?
Only he understands this allusion
to say au revoir or say good-bye.
(L'affaires étrangères) allows suffusion
to slowly flush me with a sigh.
The silence passes without intrusion,
like when we feel (the end) is nigh.
I feel the soft occlusion or is it (something else) nearby
transferred by rediffusion,
the message true love will never die
(In all sincerity I believe)d (him) and (with new spirit) I survive
(They would like) to tell me please don't trust him;
(that their) thoughts were always right
But then (again), I ask if (it was) or was (not so),
(by) the time he reads this rhyme
(297) will have lost all it's meaning
and all the clues thence lost in time.
- AP - Copyright remains with the author
'copyright image please do not reproduce without permission'
Cryptic colouration.
Another bathtub blind shot. Yesterday I was delighted to catch a Fox Sparrow on my deck rail. I also had a brief visit from this Brown Creeper when it flew to the Oak behind the deck. It is the first time I have photographed one in my yard.
I enjoyed reading the humorous comments about my bathtub blind and the images that such a name conjures up.
I assure you I am fully clothed when I take these shots. I don't want to scare the birds.
Edmonton, Alberta.
5 pictures of a day full of surprises:
www.ticklebear4u.com/2013/10/oh-happy-day-282365-days-30....
:)