{"id":55967,"date":"2018-01-22T06:41:48","date_gmt":"2018-01-22T13:41:48","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.featheredphotography.com\/blog\/?p=55967"},"modified":"2018-01-22T10:13:48","modified_gmt":"2018-01-22T17:13:48","slug":"why-birds-are-the-colors-they-are","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.featheredphotography.com\/blog\/2018\/01\/22\/why-birds-are-the-colors-they-are\/","title":{"rendered":"Why Birds Are The Colors They Are"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>As a bird photographer the beautiful colors of birds are almost as important to me as they are to the birds themselves.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><em>Note: Todays post may seem more like a science lesson than a typical blog post from me so it may not be for everyone. I applaud you if you can get through it. <\/em><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p> <\/p>\n<p>Colors\u00a0play significant roles in the lives of birds for a variety of reasons. Feather\u00a0color is produced in\u00a0two\u00a0primary\u00a0ways, either from pigments or from light diffraction caused by feather structure and occasionally by ultraviolet light.<\/p>\n<p> <\/p>\n<h2>Colors Caused By Pigments Or The Lack Of Pigments<\/h2>\n<p>Pigments are natural coloring substances found in both\u00a0plants and animals that\u00a0absorb varying wavelengths of light and reflect others. Those that are reflected are the colors\u00a0we see. Colors created by pigments are independent of feather structure. In birds pigments come from three different groups: carotenoids, melanins and porphyrines.<\/p>\n<p> <\/p>\n<h4>Carotenoids:<\/h4>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" data-attachment-id=\"32778\" data-permalink=\"https:\/\/www.featheredphotography.com\/blog\/2018\/01\/22\/why-birds-are-the-colors-they-are\/yellow-warbler-6286-ron-dudley\/\" data-orig-file=\"https:\/\/www.featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/07\/yellow-warbler-6286-ron-dudley.jpg\" data-orig-size=\"900,674\" data-comments-opened=\"1\" data-image-meta=\"{"aperture":"6.3","credit":"Ron Dudley","camera":"Canon EOS 7D Mark II","caption":"","created_timestamp":"1436434126","copyright":"","focal_length":"700","iso":"500","shutter_speed":"0.0004","title":"","orientation":"1"}\" data-image-title=\"yellow warbler 6286 ron dudley\" data-image-description=\"\" data-image-caption=\"\" data-medium-file=\"https:\/\/www.featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/07\/yellow-warbler-6286-ron-dudley-300x225.jpg\" data-large-file=\"https:\/\/www.featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/07\/yellow-warbler-6286-ron-dudley.jpg\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-32778 size-full\" title=\"yellow-warbler-6286-ron-dudley\" src=\"https:\/\/www.featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/07\/yellow-warbler-6286-ron-dudley.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"900\" height=\"674\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/07\/yellow-warbler-6286-ron-dudley.jpg 900w, https:\/\/www.featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/07\/yellow-warbler-6286-ron-dudley-300x225.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/07\/yellow-warbler-6286-ron-dudley-150x112.jpg 150w, https:\/\/www.featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/07\/yellow-warbler-6286-ron-dudley-400x300.jpg 400w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 900px) 100vw, 900px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Carotenoids are responsible for most of the yellows, oranges and reds we see in feathers. They’re produced by plants and are acquired by birds when they eat plants or eat something that has eaten plants (birds don’t produce carotenoids themselves). The yellow of this Yellow Warbler was produced by carotenoids as\u00a0are the reds of\u00a0Northern Cardinals.<\/p>\n<p> <\/p>\n<p> <\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" data-attachment-id=\"24225\" data-permalink=\"https:\/\/www.featheredphotography.com\/blog\/2014\/06\/03\/male-western-tanager\/western-tanager-5827-ron-dudley\/\" data-orig-file=\"https:\/\/www.featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/06\/western-tanager-5827-ron-dudley.jpg\" data-orig-size=\"900,704\" data-comments-opened=\"1\" data-image-meta=\"{"aperture":"6.3","credit":"RON DUDLEY","camera":"Canon EOS 7D","caption":"","created_timestamp":"1401435133","copyright":"","focal_length":"700","iso":"500","shutter_speed":"0.0004","title":""}\" data-image-title=\"western tanager 5827 ron dudley\" data-image-description=\"\" data-image-caption=\"\" data-medium-file=\"https:\/\/www.featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/06\/western-tanager-5827-ron-dudley-300x234.jpg\" data-large-file=\"https:\/\/www.featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/06\/western-tanager-5827-ron-dudley.jpg\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-24225 size-full\" title=\"western-tanager-5827-ron-dudley\" src=\"https:\/\/www.featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/06\/western-tanager-5827-ron-dudley.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"900\" height=\"704\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/06\/western-tanager-5827-ron-dudley.jpg 900w, https:\/\/www.featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/06\/western-tanager-5827-ron-dudley-300x234.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/06\/western-tanager-5827-ron-dudley-150x117.jpg 150w, https:\/\/www.featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/06\/western-tanager-5827-ron-dudley-400x312.jpg 400w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 900px) 100vw, 900px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>The spectacular male Western Tanager is a bit of a rarity. As expected its yellows come from carotenoids but in this case the reds come from a different (and rare in the bird world) pigment called rhodaxanthin. Other tanager species like the Scarlet, Summer and Hepatic Tanagers get their reds from the usual carotenoids but the Western Tanager is unusual in this regard. The source of their rhodoxanthin is presumed to be insects that have themselves acquired the pigment from plants.<\/p>\n<p> <\/p>\n<h4>Melanins:<\/h4>\n<p> <\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" data-attachment-id=\"39481\" data-permalink=\"https:\/\/www.featheredphotography.com\/blog\/2016\/05\/14\/a-quirky-meadowlark-behavior-i-have-a-working-hypothesis-to-explain-it\/rough-legged-hawk-6691-ron-dudley\/\" data-orig-file=\"https:\/\/www.featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/05\/rough-legged-hawk-6691-ron-dudley.jpg\" data-orig-size=\"720,900\" data-comments-opened=\"1\" data-image-meta=\"{"aperture":"0","credit":"RON DUDLEY","camera":"","caption":"","created_timestamp":"0","copyright":"","focal_length":"0","iso":"0","shutter_speed":"0","title":"","orientation":"1"}\" data-image-title=\"rough-legged-hawk-6691 ron dudley\" data-image-description=\"\" data-image-caption=\"\" data-medium-file=\"https:\/\/www.featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/05\/rough-legged-hawk-6691-ron-dudley-240x300.jpg\" data-large-file=\"https:\/\/www.featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/05\/rough-legged-hawk-6691-ron-dudley.jpg\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-39481 size-full\" title=\"rough-legged-hawk-6691-ron-dudley\" src=\"https:\/\/www.featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/05\/rough-legged-hawk-6691-ron-dudley.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"720\" height=\"900\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/05\/rough-legged-hawk-6691-ron-dudley.jpg 720w, https:\/\/www.featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/05\/rough-legged-hawk-6691-ron-dudley-240x300.jpg 240w, https:\/\/www.featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/05\/rough-legged-hawk-6691-ron-dudley-120x150.jpg 120w, https:\/\/www.featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/05\/rough-legged-hawk-6691-ron-dudley-400x500.jpg 400w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 720px) 100vw, 720px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Melanins occur as tiny granules of color in both the skin and feathers of birds and are responsible for most of the blacks, browns,\u00a0grays and pale yellows. Colors produced are dependent upon concentration and location of the pigment. The coloration of this beautiful Rough-legged Hawk is due to melanins.<\/p>\n<p> <\/p>\n<p> <\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" data-attachment-id=\"47464\" data-permalink=\"https:\/\/www.featheredphotography.com\/blog\/2017\/04\/13\/american-avocets-at-bear-river-mbr-yesterday\/american-avocet-1839-ron-dudley\/\" data-orig-file=\"https:\/\/www.featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/04\/american-avocet-1839-ron-dudley.jpg\" data-orig-size=\"900,643\" data-comments-opened=\"1\" data-image-meta=\"{"aperture":"7.1","credit":"RON DUDLEY","camera":"Canon EOS 7D Mark II","caption":"","created_timestamp":"1491988561","copyright":"","focal_length":"700","iso":"500","shutter_speed":"0.00025","title":"","orientation":"1"}\" data-image-title=\"american avocet 1839 ron dudley\" data-image-description=\"\" data-image-caption=\"\" data-medium-file=\"https:\/\/www.featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/04\/american-avocet-1839-ron-dudley-300x214.jpg\" data-large-file=\"https:\/\/www.featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/04\/american-avocet-1839-ron-dudley.jpg\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-47464 size-full\" title=\"american-avocet-1839-ron-dudley\" src=\"https:\/\/www.featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/04\/american-avocet-1839-ron-dudley.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"900\" height=\"643\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/04\/american-avocet-1839-ron-dudley.jpg 900w, https:\/\/www.featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/04\/american-avocet-1839-ron-dudley-300x214.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/04\/american-avocet-1839-ron-dudley-768x549.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/04\/american-avocet-1839-ron-dudley-150x107.jpg 150w, https:\/\/www.featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/04\/american-avocet-1839-ron-dudley-400x286.jpg 400w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 900px) 100vw, 900px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Melanins provide an additional service for birds by making their feathers stronger and more resistant to wear. The more melanin present in a feather the stronger it is so darker feathers are more resistant to wear than lighter feathers. Feathers without any pigment are the weakest of all. Many otherwise\u00a0white or light-colored birds like this American Avocet have evolved\u00a0melanin-laden black on their wingtips and\/or primaries where wear and tear are most intense.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><em>Note: I’ve often heard and read that the toughness provided to feathers by melanin makes them more resistant to feather lice. However in researching this\u00a0post I found studies that say otherwise so at this point I don’t know if it’s true or not. Here’s a <a href=\"https:\/\/utah.pure.elsevier.com\/en\/publications\/is-melanin-a-defense-against-feather-feeding-lice\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">link to the abstract of one of the studies<\/a> that summarizes their methods and results.\u00a0\u00a0<\/em><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p> <\/p>\n<h4>Porphyrins:<\/h4>\n<p>Porphyrins are much less common\u00a0pigments found in turacaos and\u00a0some owls, pigeons and gallinules\u00a0that fluoresce to reds, pinks, browns and greens\u00a0when exposed to ultraviolet light. I don’t have any photos that show this fluorescence but it can be seen <a href=\"https:\/\/eatmorecookies.wordpress.com\/2015\/02\/27\/owls-dont-just-hoot-they-also-glow\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">here<\/a> in a road killed Great Horned Owl if you have the interest.<\/p>\n<p> <\/p>\n<h4>The Absence of Pigments:<\/h4>\n<p> <\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" data-attachment-id=\"43525\" data-permalink=\"https:\/\/www.featheredphotography.com\/blog\/2016\/11\/15\/leucistic-red-tailed-hawk-in-flight-and-at-takeoff\/red-tailed-hawk-8532b-leucistic-ron-dudley\/\" data-orig-file=\"https:\/\/www.featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/11\/red-tailed-hawk-8532b-leucistic-ron-dudley.jpg\" data-orig-size=\"900,643\" data-comments-opened=\"1\" data-image-meta=\"{"aperture":"6.3","credit":"RON DUDLEY","camera":"Canon EOS 7D","caption":"","created_timestamp":"1479116744","copyright":"","focal_length":"700","iso":"500","shutter_speed":"0.0002","title":"","orientation":"1"}\" data-image-title=\"red-tailed-hawk-8532b-leucistic-ron-dudley\" data-image-description=\"\" data-image-caption=\"\" data-medium-file=\"https:\/\/www.featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/11\/red-tailed-hawk-8532b-leucistic-ron-dudley-300x214.jpg\" data-large-file=\"https:\/\/www.featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/11\/red-tailed-hawk-8532b-leucistic-ron-dudley.jpg\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-43525 size-full\" title=\"red-tailed-hawk-8532b-leucistic-ron-dudley\" src=\"https:\/\/www.featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/11\/red-tailed-hawk-8532b-leucistic-ron-dudley.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"900\" height=\"643\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/11\/red-tailed-hawk-8532b-leucistic-ron-dudley.jpg 900w, https:\/\/www.featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/11\/red-tailed-hawk-8532b-leucistic-ron-dudley-300x214.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/11\/red-tailed-hawk-8532b-leucistic-ron-dudley-768x549.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/11\/red-tailed-hawk-8532b-leucistic-ron-dudley-150x107.jpg 150w, https:\/\/www.featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/11\/red-tailed-hawk-8532b-leucistic-ron-dudley-400x286.jpg 400w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 900px) 100vw, 900px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Color abnormalities caused by the unusual absence of pigments are not common but they do occur on a regular basis and albinism and leucism can be the result. This leucistic adult Red-tailed Hawk is an example.<\/p>\n<p> <\/p>\n<p> <\/p>\n<h2>Colors caused by feather structure:<\/h2>\n<p>Pigments are not responsible for all colors in birds. Iridescence, air pockets and ultraviolet light are non-pigment sources of feather colors.<\/p>\n<p> <\/p>\n<h4>Iridescence:<\/h4>\n<p> <\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" data-attachment-id=\"41247\" data-permalink=\"https:\/\/www.featheredphotography.com\/blog\/2016\/08\/04\/anatomy-of-a-magpie-nest\/black-billed-magpie-6445b-ron-dudley\/\" data-orig-file=\"https:\/\/www.featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/08\/black-billed-magpie-6445b-ron-dudley.jpg\" data-orig-size=\"900,635\" data-comments-opened=\"1\" data-image-meta=\"{"aperture":"8","credit":"RON DUDLEY","camera":"Canon EOS 7D","caption":"","created_timestamp":"1268329796","copyright":"","focal_length":"500","iso":"400","shutter_speed":"0.0005","title":"","orientation":"1"}\" data-image-title=\"black-billed magpie 6445b ron dudley\" data-image-description=\"\" data-image-caption=\"\" data-medium-file=\"https:\/\/www.featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/08\/black-billed-magpie-6445b-ron-dudley-300x212.jpg\" data-large-file=\"https:\/\/www.featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/08\/black-billed-magpie-6445b-ron-dudley.jpg\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-41247 size-full\" title=\"black-billed-magpie-6445b-ron-dudley\" src=\"https:\/\/www.featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/08\/black-billed-magpie-6445b-ron-dudley.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"900\" height=\"635\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/08\/black-billed-magpie-6445b-ron-dudley.jpg 900w, https:\/\/www.featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/08\/black-billed-magpie-6445b-ron-dudley-300x212.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/08\/black-billed-magpie-6445b-ron-dudley-768x542.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/08\/black-billed-magpie-6445b-ron-dudley-150x106.jpg 150w, https:\/\/www.featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/08\/black-billed-magpie-6445b-ron-dudley-400x282.jpg 400w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 900px) 100vw, 900px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Iridescence\u00a0occurs when certain surfaces appear to change color as the angle of view (or the angle of illumination) changes. Common examples of iridescence include soap bubbles, butterfly wings and sea shells.<\/p>\n<p>The\u00a0spectacular throat feathers (gorgets) of many hummingbirds are probably the best known example of iridescence in birds but many species demonstrate the phenomenon including this Black-billed Magpie. In birds iridescence is produced by the refraction (for physics purists it might\u00a0more accurately be called interference)\u00a0of white light interacting with the microscopic structure of feather barbules. The result can be a glowing, shimmering iridescent display.<\/p>\n<p> <\/p>\n<p> <\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" data-attachment-id=\"55975\" data-permalink=\"https:\/\/www.featheredphotography.com\/blog\/2018\/01\/22\/why-birds-are-the-colors-they-are\/american-wigeon-9427-ron-dudley\/\" data-orig-file=\"https:\/\/www.featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/american-wigeon-9427-ron-dudley.jpg\" data-orig-size=\"900,643\" data-comments-opened=\"1\" data-image-meta=\"{"aperture":"7.1","credit":"RON DUDLEY","camera":"Canon EOS 7D Mark II","caption":"","created_timestamp":"1516203925","copyright":"","focal_length":"500","iso":"400","shutter_speed":"0.0015625","title":"","orientation":"1"}\" data-image-title=\"american wigeon 9427 ron dudley\" data-image-description=\"\" data-image-caption=\"\" data-medium-file=\"https:\/\/www.featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/american-wigeon-9427-ron-dudley-300x214.jpg\" data-large-file=\"https:\/\/www.featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/american-wigeon-9427-ron-dudley.jpg\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-55975 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/www.featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/american-wigeon-9427-ron-dudley.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"900\" height=\"643\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/american-wigeon-9427-ron-dudley.jpg 900w, https:\/\/www.featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/american-wigeon-9427-ron-dudley-300x214.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/american-wigeon-9427-ron-dudley-768x549.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/american-wigeon-9427-ron-dudley-150x107.jpg 150w, https:\/\/www.featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/american-wigeon-9427-ron-dudley-400x286.jpg 400w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 900px) 100vw, 900px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Because of the protein structure of the barbules iridescent feathers change color with different viewing angles as demonstrated by this male American Wigeon I photographed a few days ago at a local pond.\u00a0The\u00a0iridescent bright greens behind his eye…<\/p>\n<p> <\/p>\n<p> <\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/american-wigeon-9431-ron-dudley.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" data-attachment-id=\"55976\" data-permalink=\"https:\/\/www.featheredphotography.com\/blog\/2018\/01\/22\/why-birds-are-the-colors-they-are\/american-wigeon-9431-ron-dudley\/\" data-orig-file=\"https:\/\/www.featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/american-wigeon-9431-ron-dudley.jpg\" data-orig-size=\"900,643\" data-comments-opened=\"1\" data-image-meta=\"{"aperture":"7.1","credit":"RON DUDLEY","camera":"Canon EOS 7D Mark II","caption":"","created_timestamp":"1516203932","copyright":"","focal_length":"500","iso":"400","shutter_speed":"0.0015625","title":"","orientation":"1"}\" data-image-title=\"american wigeon 9431 ron dudley\" data-image-description=\"\" data-image-caption=\"\" data-medium-file=\"https:\/\/www.featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/american-wigeon-9431-ron-dudley-300x214.jpg\" data-large-file=\"https:\/\/www.featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/american-wigeon-9431-ron-dudley.jpg\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-55976 size-full\" title=\"american-wigeon-9431-ron-dudley\" src=\"https:\/\/www.featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/american-wigeon-9431-ron-dudley.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"900\" height=\"643\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/american-wigeon-9431-ron-dudley.jpg 900w, https:\/\/www.featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/american-wigeon-9431-ron-dudley-300x214.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/american-wigeon-9431-ron-dudley-768x549.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/american-wigeon-9431-ron-dudley-150x107.jpg 150w, https:\/\/www.featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/american-wigeon-9431-ron-dudley-400x286.jpg 400w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 900px) 100vw, 900px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>disappeared completely\u00a0a split second later when the duck changed the angle of his head slightly.<\/p>\n<p> <\/p>\n<h4>Air pockets:<\/h4>\n<p> <\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" data-attachment-id=\"3525\" data-permalink=\"https:\/\/www.featheredphotography.com\/blog\/2011\/12\/20\/lazuli-buntings-of-the-san-rafael-swell\/lazuli-bunting-3547\/\" data-orig-file=\"https:\/\/www.featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/12\/lazuli-bunting-3547.jpg\" data-orig-size=\"900,661\" data-comments-opened=\"1\" data-image-meta=\"{"aperture":"0","credit":"","camera":"","caption":"","created_timestamp":"0","copyright":"","focal_length":"0","iso":"0","shutter_speed":"0","title":""}\" data-image-title=\"lazuli-bunting-3547\" data-image-description=\"\" data-image-caption=\"\" data-medium-file=\"https:\/\/www.featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/12\/lazuli-bunting-3547-300x220.jpg\" data-large-file=\"https:\/\/www.featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/12\/lazuli-bunting-3547.jpg\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-3525 size-full\" title=\"lazuli-bunting-3547 ron dudley\" src=\"https:\/\/www.featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/12\/lazuli-bunting-3547.jpg\" alt=\"lazuli-bunting-3547\" width=\"900\" height=\"661\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/12\/lazuli-bunting-3547.jpg 900w, https:\/\/www.featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/12\/lazuli-bunting-3547-300x220.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/12\/lazuli-bunting-3547-150x110.jpg 150w, https:\/\/www.featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/12\/lazuli-bunting-3547-400x293.jpg 400w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 900px) 100vw, 900px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Not all colors produced by feather structure are iridescent. In some species, buntings, jays and bluebirds for example, non-iridescent blues are produced when white light strikes tiny air pockets in the feather barbs. Blue colors in birds are nearly always produced by this process, as in this Lazuli Bunting.<\/p>\n<p> <\/p>\n<p> <\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" data-attachment-id=\"40114\" data-permalink=\"https:\/\/www.featheredphotography.com\/blog\/2016\/06\/15\/mountain-bluebird-an-imperfect-image-that-ill-keep-for-inspiration\/mountain-bluebird-6712c-ron-dudley\/\" data-orig-file=\"https:\/\/www.featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/06\/mountain-bluebird-6712c-ron-dudley.jpg\" data-orig-size=\"693,900\" data-comments-opened=\"1\" data-image-meta=\"{"aperture":"5.6","credit":"Ron Dudley","camera":"Canon EOS 7D Mark II","caption":"","created_timestamp":"1464859161","copyright":"","focal_length":"700","iso":"800","shutter_speed":"0.0002","title":"","orientation":"1"}\" data-image-title=\"mountain bluebird 6712c ron dudley\" data-image-description=\"\" data-image-caption=\"\" data-medium-file=\"https:\/\/www.featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/06\/mountain-bluebird-6712c-ron-dudley-231x300.jpg\" data-large-file=\"https:\/\/www.featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/06\/mountain-bluebird-6712c-ron-dudley.jpg\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-40114 size-full\" title=\"mountain-bluebird-6712c-ron-dudley\" src=\"https:\/\/www.featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/06\/mountain-bluebird-6712c-ron-dudley.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"693\" height=\"900\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/06\/mountain-bluebird-6712c-ron-dudley.jpg 693w, https:\/\/www.featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/06\/mountain-bluebird-6712c-ron-dudley-231x300.jpg 231w, https:\/\/www.featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/06\/mountain-bluebird-6712c-ron-dudley-116x150.jpg 116w, https:\/\/www.featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/06\/mountain-bluebird-6712c-ron-dudley-400x519.jpg 400w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 693px) 100vw, 693px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>It’s often said that bluebirds like this Mountain Bluebird\u00a0aren’t really blue and that can be demonstrated by observing an individual\u00a0“blue” feather in normal lighting conditions where, as expected, it appears to be blue. But if you hold the same feather so it’s back-lit the blues are lost and the feather appears brown. The blues disappear because the light is no longer being reflected back by the air pockets\u00a0so the browns of melanin show up instead.<\/p>\n<p> <\/p>\n<h4>Ultraviolet Feathers:<\/h4>\n<p>Quite a few bird species\u00a0can see ultraviolet light, a portion of the light spectrum that we cannot see and many birds have feather\u00a0structures that reflect UV light. As a result the colors of birds can appear quite different to each other than they do to us. This means that many birds are sexually dimorphic (males and females are different) because of colors that we’re normally not even aware of.<\/p>\n<p>And that makes me wonder – how many bird species that we normally describe as having similar colors in both sexes are actually seen as dramatically different by the birds themselves?<\/p>\n<p>There’s just so much that most of us aren’t aware of about birds!<\/p>\n<p>Ron<\/p>\n<p><em>Note: I’ve used Cornell Labs and a variety of other sites as sources for this post.<\/em><\/p>\n<p> <\/p>\n<p> <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>As a bird photographer the beautiful colors of birds are almost as important to me as they are to the birds themselves.<\/p>\n<p> <a class=\"continue-reading-link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.featheredphotography.com\/blog\/2018\/01\/22\/why-birds-are-the-colors-they-are\/\"><span>Continue reading<\/span><i class=\"crycon-right-dir\"><\/i><\/a> <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":3525,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[437,5,334,363,569,1504,358,3486],"tags":[3829,186,1544,1945,2297,3830,3831,3828],"class_list":["post-55967","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-american-avocets-shore-birds","category-bird-oddities","category-birds","category-black-billed-magpies","category-lazuli-buntings","category-mountain-bluebirds","category-rough-legged-hawks","category-yellow-warbler","tag-carotenoids","tag-iridescence","tag-leucistic","tag-melanin","tag-pigments","tag-porphyrin","tag-ultraviolet","tag-what-causes-color-in-birds"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/12\/lazuli-bunting-3547.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p1zzJh-eyH","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/55967","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=55967"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/55967\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3525"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=55967"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=55967"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=55967"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}