Nature never ceases to amaze. A viral video from Fernando Arrigorriaga shows something many people have never seen: A royal flycatcher seemingly sprouting ornamental feathers from the top of its head in real time. (Seriously, where did those feathers even come from??) In a matter of seconds, the royal flycatcher changes its appearance significantly, and it’s incredible to watch.
Arrigorriaga is a wildlife photographer from Argentina. He seems to specialize in tropical birds of South America, and you can easily get sucked into his work. The photos and videos—and the subjects themselves—are stunning.
While he doesn’t provide a lot of context for his royal flycatcher video, which has over 1.3 million likes on Instagram, he does mention that it took some patience to capture this moment on film.
“Sometimes, you have to spend hours waiting for [royal flycatchers] to show off their beautiful ‘hairstyle’,” Arrigorriaga wrote in his caption. “What an incredible display of nature.”
Watch a royal flycatcher do its thing here:
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Have you ever seen anything like this?