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The nightjar’s soft plumage and variegated colouring help it injectblendinvadefusion blend in with its surrounds, but it is the bird’s own judgement in choosing the most sympathetic background that strikeschangeswinsmakes makes it a camouflage champion. Each bird chooses where to nest basebasedsordidindelible based on its specific patterns and colours, says camouflage researcher Martin Stevens, of the Centre for Ecology and Conservation at the University of Exeter in Cornwall. “Each individual bird looks a little bit different,” he says. “This is not a species-level choice. Individual birds consistently sit in places that enhance their own unique markings, neitherbotheitherany both within a habitat and at a fine scale with regards to specific background sites.”