Camouflage-Perfecto

[Roopak Gangadharan]

I almost walked into this Indian pond heron before he took off from a hay stack 3 feet away and landed on another and gave me a start. Later came to know that they are so confident of their camouflage that they do this often and humans in all their vainity call them short sighted in some places.

I have no doubts who is short sighted ......

500D, 55-250, 250mm, Aperture priority F5.6, 1/250, ISO 400

Here is an intresting peice from WIKI :

The habit of standing still and flushing only at the last moment has led to widespread folk beliefs that they are semi-blind and their name in many languages includes such suggestions. In Sri Lanka the bird is called Kana Koka which translates as 'Half-blind Heron' in the Sinhala.[37] The phrase "bagla bhagat" has been used to describe a "wolf in sheep's clothing" or a heron appearing like a meditating saint.