Camouflage & the Cat

[Eichhörnchen]

When I was a teenaged Army Cadet my favourite subject was always Camouflage and Concealment. I remember one evening we were all sat a few yards from the edge of a wood and asked just what we could see. Nothing but trees, bushes and grass, I thought. Then a whistle was blown and the wood suddenly came alive as a dozen camouflaged guys stood up and walked out onto the grass... I was very impressed


Now, we have been visited often of late by a black and white cat who regularly kills large numbers of birds in our garden. But he is so easy to see... often I've watched him steal down the edge of the field opposite our kitchen, yet the birds don't seem to see him coming... why? The other day I looked out the window and saw him away across the field, but then realised that it wasn't him at all but a magpie. Could it be, I thought, that the birds (all busy at the feeders) sometimes make the same mistake? Exponents of the art of camouflage know that it's not always a matter of not being seen, but instead being seen as something else


I've always meant to read the biography of Jasper Maskelyne, the magician employed during WW2 to help fool the Germans using deception and disguise rather than bland obfuscation:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jasper_Maskelyne

Dazzle camouflage of warships and the geometric 'boxkite' patterns painted on WW1 aircraft are also examples of 'fooling' the enemy and I'd like to hear more thoughts and stories about camouflage & concealment here... to me it's such an amazing and fascinating science

[Buddahaid]

Originally Posted by Eichhörnchen

When I was a teenaged Army Cadet my favourite subject was always Camouflage and Concealment. I remember one evening we were all sat a few yards from the edge of a wood and asked just what we could see. Nothing but trees, bushes and grass, I thought. Then a whistle was blown and the wood suddenly came alive as a dozen camouflaged guys stood up and walked out onto the grass... I was very impressed


Now, we have been visited often of late by a black and white cat who regularly kills large numbers of birds in our garden. But he is so easy to see... often I've watched him steal down the edge of the field opposite our kitchen, yet the birds don't seem to see him coming... why? The other day I looked out the window and saw him away across the field, but then realised that it wasn't him at all but a magpie. Could it be, I thought, that the birds (all busy at the feeders) sometimes make the same mistake? Exponents of the art of camouflage know that it's not always a matter of not being seen, but instead being seen as something else


I've always meant to read the biography of Jasper Maskelyne, the magician employed during WW2 to help fool the Germans using deception and disguise rather than bland obfuscation:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jasper_Maskelyne

Dazzle camouflage of warships and the geometric 'boxkite' patterns painted on WW1 aircraft are also examples of 'fooling' the enemy and I'd like to hear more thoughts and stories about camouflage & concealment here... to me it's such an amazing and fascinating science

Do birds see in color or B & W?

[Eichhörnchen]

A good point, but surely it would make no difference in such a case? It would just be an issue of tone

[Buddahaid]

Or keyed to motion. I think cats detect motion.

[Eichhörnchen]

They certainly do, but I'm more concerned with what the birds detect

Black = total absence of colour; white = 100% presence/spectrum of colour, so even if birds do see in black & white... especially if birds see in black & white... they perhaps think it is a magpie until it's too late!

[vienna]

Several years ago, I was walking down my block and saw a crow just standing in the middle of the street; there was no immediate danger since our street is very lightly traveled. Then I noticed, behind a tree, a cat stalking the apparently oblivious crow. The cat was doing the usual cat hunting moves, hunkering down low, creeping forward a few steps, stopping, and then creeping even closer. The cat got about two or three feet away behind the crow when, all of a sudden, the crow wheeled around, spreading its wing out fully and emitting the loudest, most chilling caw I ever heard. The cat was frozen for a split second, the leapt up, in fright, about two or so feet in the air looking like one of those cartoon cats, landed back down and ran away faster than I'd ever seen a cat run...

The crow just ruffled its wings and feathers a bit, turned back around, and resumed just standing there, in the middle of the street...









<O>

[Eichhörnchen]

That story reminds me... walking home with a mate from the pub one night I perceived a white, black-spotted soccer ball in the middle of the road ahead. Of course I set off and ran towards it (or what passed for running in my state) but just before I delivered the goal-scoring kick my friend yelled "It's a cat!" whereupon I deftly hopped over the curled slumbering moggy

Now his camouflage was very convincing

[Sean C]

Maybe the birds are drunk, too?

[Rockstar]

The bird most likely sees the cat. But I wonder if it recognizes a slow moving grounded object like a cat as a threat.

Squirrels on the other hand when they see a cat will alert the entire neighborhood to its presence with a cacophony of sound.

[MaDef]

Originally Posted by Buddahaid

Do birds see in color or B & W?

Most see in color, with some species seeing into the ultra-violet range of colors.

[Buddahaid]

Thanks, but now I'm thinking.....
https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x2ovimx

[Eichhörnchen]

We used to often go out for walks at dusk along our road in the warm months... very rural, hardly any traffic back then... and our 3 cats usually came with us. The dark tabby cat stood out clearly against the road in the failing light, whereas the two gingers grew steadily harder to see and you might easily trip over them.

The colour of objects rapidly disappears as darkness falls, our eyes' receptors dependent upon reflected light to see their colours. All we can make out in the poor light are tones... light and dark... so it doesn't matter at all what colour something is at night, it will be invisible unless you either shine a light on it, or it moves in front of something of a highly contrasting tone. Thus the ginger cats would disappear against the grey road

This is why I've never understood why the RAF painted its night fighters and bombers black (Bomber Command operated mostly by night) for surely nothing could be guaranteed to stand out more against the clouds than a black aircraft. The Germans, on the other hand, were far more canny... painting their nightfighters in an overall dapple of mid and light greys. I think the RAF would've been better painting their night-flying planes in the medium grey-blue used on photo recon aircraft... or even simply leaving them in day camouflage

[ExFishermanBob]

My favourite 'camouflage' (although misdirection might be better) is the Startfish Decoy system. Look it up. Used to deflect from towns and airfields.

[Eichhörnchen]

^ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Starfish_site

[Eichhörnchen]

Published by John Murray

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