Where's chip?

I was out shooting birds and this little guy jumped up on this tree. There was a hawk around the area and the Chipmunk stayed frozen like this for about 10 minutes. They sure know how to blend in! I was about 100 feet away, sitting in my campchair. Very cloudy day, then the rain came down...

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Very nice capture.

Iguide wrote in post #8582077
Very nice capture.

Thanks for the comment....I have some very nice close shots of Chipmonks, but thought I would post this to show the camo mode these little guys can go into when there is a threat nearby.

Yes, it took a couple of seconds for my eyes to find the little guy---animal stealth modes are so cool.
Rich

RW123 wrote in post #8586510
Yes, it took a couple of seconds for my eyes to find the little guy---animal stealth modes are so cool.
Rich

I think they even know that their color will blend in! Smarter than we think!

ajosteve wrote in post #8586592
I think they even know that their color will blend in! Smarter than we think!

Well, it sounds good in theory, however it has been proven that they see in black & white not color so that kind of disproves that idea. They have rods for receptors which are the B&W sight not cones which allow color vision.

Other than that fact you would think that your assertion is correct. Especially when you look at that little guy and how well he does blend with that weathered wood.

Humans and birds are pretty much it for color vision on this planet. Good thought though.

Iguide wrote in post #8587313
Well, it sounds good in theory, however it has been proven that they see in black & white not color so that kind of disproves that idea. They have rods for receptors which are the B&W sight not cones which allow color vision.

Other than that fact you would think that your assertion is correct. Especially when you look at that little guy and how well he does blend with that weathered wood.

Humans and birds are pretty much it for color vision on this planet. Good thought though.

Hey thanks, I didn't know that, learn something new every day. So why do hunters wear camo gear if the animals can't see color?

ajosteve wrote in post #8588493
Hey thanks, I didn't know that, learn something new every day. So why do hunters wear camo gear if the animals can't see color?

There are a couple of reasons for that. One which is a bit humerus is that a lot of camo is patterned & fashioned to make it more salable to hunters. You may not know but usually only about 10% on average of all hunters are successful in/on a hunt. Of that about 10% of those hunters are successful year after year. As a guide I learned really quickly that there are a lot of pretenders out there that want to think that "they are the next great white hunter". Those are the ones that are caught in the camo trap.

The second and actually functional reason has to do with nature. If you look at nature every single aspect is textured and layered. There are no big blobs of single texture or layer out there like there is with the clothes that humans wear. Also there are not really any regularly repeating geometric shapes in nature like the old red and black check jackets that used to be worn. For all game except birds color of camo is not really important. Having a textured, layered appearance is. With birds like turkeys, that is where color of camo is important.

In my opinion this is also true when hunting with a camera. Even more so because we are looking for a photogenic capture and if we seek to capture animals that see man as a threat they had better not recognize us.

Iguide wrote in post #8588962
There are a couple of reasons for that. One which is a bit humerus is that a lot of camo is patterned & fashioned to make it more salable to hunters. You may not know but usually only about 10% on average of all hunters are successful in/on a hunt. Of that about 10% of those hunters are successful year after year. As a guide I learned really quickly that there are a lot of pretenders out there that want to think that "they are the next great white hunter". Those are the ones that are caught in the camo trap.

The second and actually functional reason has to do with nature. If you look at nature every single aspect is textured and layered. There are no big blobs of single texture or layer out there like there is with the clothes that humans wear. Also there are not really any regularly repeating geometric shapes in nature like the old red and black check jackets that used to be worn. For all game except birds color of camo is not really important. Having a textured, layered appearance is. With birds like turkeys, that is where color of camo is important.

In my opinion this is also true when hunting with a camera. Even more so because we are looking for a photogenic capture and if we seek to capture animals that see man as a threat they had better not recognize us.

Very interesting, thank you for taking the time to explain all this. I was out shooting birds and wore blue pants and always a green or brown shirt. I started wearing green or brown pants too and have noticed a difference when getting close to birds. Camo might be even better for birds, although steller's jays can't be fooled by anything....they're way to smart.

Yup, Jays are almost as smart as crows.