The flashy escape: support for dynamic flash coloration as anti-predator defence

Abstract

Dynamic flash coloration is a type of antipredator coloration where intermittently appearing colour patterns in moving animals misdirect predator attacks by obscuring the precise location and trajectory of the moving prey. Birds and butterflies with differing dorsoventral wing coloration or iridescent surface structures may potentially benefit from such effects. However, we lack an understanding of what makes for an effective dynamic flash colour design and how much it benefits the carrier. Here, we test the effect of colour flashing using small passerine birds preying upon colourful, moving, virtual ‘prey’ stimuli on a touchscreen. We show that at fast speeds, green-to-blue flashing colour patterns can reduce the likelihood of pecks hitting the target, induce greater error in targeting accuracy and increase the number of pecks at a stimulus relative to similarly coloured non-flashing targets. Our results support the idea that dynamic flash coloration can deflect predatory attacks at fast speeds, but the effect may be the opposite when moving slowly.