At the first sight of danger to their offspring, both parents may engage in distraction displays.

Other plovers sit on imaginary nest sites: both methods are distraction displays.

For the rest something else is needed, and that is where the distraction display comes into operation.

A successful distraction display therefore requires five stages.

Indeed a Galapagos dove was seen to perform a distraction display on an island where there had been no predators for countless years.

But intimidation is not the function of distraction displays.

But whatever their origins, these distraction displays are now reactions in their own right.

If the male becomes alarmed enough to leave the nest, he will attempt a distraction display.

Several variations are known in these distraction displays.

If a signal is not honest, predators can quickly learn to ignore distraction displays.