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First Puzzling question -

A bird builds a nest, lays an egg, hatches an egg, feeds a chick, watches it grow, then watches it take flight for the first time. The bird never sees its young leave the nest. What colour was the chick?

There may be more than one possible answer, the key will be the explanation.

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    $\begingroup$ Thanks for the Spelling/grammar check Tom. I should have re-read it a few more times. $\endgroup$
    – Brent Hackers
    May 26, 2016 at 8:14

3 Answers 3

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My guess would be

Grey or brown.

Explanation:

I'm thinking that the chick would be a cuckoo or a cowbird (and for those species, other colours are possible. The key being that the egg the bird lays and the egg the bird hatches are not the same egg. Cuckoos and cowbirds lay their eggs in other birds' nests. Their eggs hatch early and push out the other eggs. Thus, the original bird never sees its own young leave the nest.

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    $\begingroup$ Omg I totally didn't catch how the question actually allowed the two eggs to be different ones lol $\endgroup$
    – busukxuan
    May 26, 2016 at 8:22
  • $\begingroup$ Well done. I'd hoped it would take a little longer... :| $\endgroup$
    – Brent Hackers
    May 26, 2016 at 8:24
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Black

Though the chick needs to be purely and absolutely so for this to be really legit. Why?

If an object is purely black (a black body), it absorbs all incident light that hits it, reflecting no light, hence a black body cannot technically be seen, but its presence can be inferred, and hence "practically seen", by not seeing any light from the objects position. If the chick were black, bird can do all sorts of stuff with the chick because the bird knows where it is, but technically no light from the chick is ever reflected into the bird's eyes, hence the bird never technically sees the chick leave the nest, albeit having been watching it take flight for the first time.

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    $\begingroup$ Not the answer but sill... mind-blowing levels of technicality. $\endgroup$
    – Brent Hackers
    May 26, 2016 at 8:26
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    $\begingroup$ Even objects that reflect no light still radiate light! (Of course, it would have to be quite hot to radiate much visible light...) $\endgroup$
    – Daniel Wagner
    May 26, 2016 at 20:17
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    $\begingroup$ @Daniel so you're saying it would have to be... a hot chick? $\endgroup$
    – 0xDBFB7
    May 26, 2016 at 22:42
  • $\begingroup$ @DanielWagner Hopefully birds don't see into the infrared spectrum lol. $\endgroup$
    – busukxuan
    May 27, 2016 at 7:02
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The chick was...

Pinkish -- far as I know, every newborn chick is, and the question doesn't ask on what date the color was visible. This answer is unsatisfying as it does not use all parts of the setup.

or

Black-and-white -- emperor penguins lay eggs onto their own feet, and while they are biologically flightless, the child can take flight if taken by researchers or hunters on a helicopter: nothing said the bird was alive on its first flight.

I eliminated these answers, since they do not provide a single identifiable color:

Any color -- parent was simply not looking at the time of nest departure.

or

The plumage color of a juvenile Cuckoo, Cowbird, Black-Headed Duck, Weaver-Finch, Honeyguide, or other brood parasite (see accepted answer).

or

The plumage color of a juvenile non-nesting, ground-laying bird, such as the Nightjar, Plover, Killdeer and Short Eared Owl.

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