Discover why birds develop surprising and irregular feather colors.
SEEING BIRDS PARADE such colorful feathers is one of the greatest joys in watching winged visitors. The hues and patterns of their plumage are both decorative and practical, making them gaudy enough to attract mates or subtle enough to blend into their surroundings. Plumage is also a reliable way for bird-watchers to recognize different species.
Sometimes, though, a bird has a very unusual feather pattern—one that is not quite how it’s supposed to look or doesn’t match up with the pictures in the book. Such striking and surprising colors have a number of causes. If you know what makes these odd variations possible, it’s exciting, not confusing, when you spot one.
FLASHES OF WHITE
A flock of robins gather on the lawn and among them is a bird that looks similar, but with big patches of white. A flock of house sparrows flies past, and there’s an all-white bird with them. Are they some rare visitors?
No, they’re just individuals of the same kind that lack normal pigments in their feathers.
Most of the black, gray, brown and reddish-brown tones in feathers are created by pigments called melanins. If these pigments are missing, feathers may grow in pure white. Birds might have just a few white feathers, large random spots of them—or they might look completely white. All of these individuals are known as leucistic. Their appearance may throw you off at first, but with careful study, you can identify most by their shape and behavior, and if they’re flocking with others of their own kind.
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Denne historien er fra August/September 2019-utgaven av Birds & Blooms.
Start din 7-dagers gratis prøveperiode på Magzter GOLD for å få tilgang til tusenvis av utvalgte premiumhistorier og 9000+ magasiner og aviser.
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Sense or Nonsense? - Why some birds can taste and smell - but others can't
Does a porcelain berry taste like a blueberry to a gray catbird? Does a block of lard smell like frying bacon to a northern flicker? The short answer is no. While some avian species do have a well-adapted sense of taste or smell, they can't distinguish between flavors and odors the way humans can. They're not picking up every ingredient in the suet you put out, says José Ramírez-Garofalo, an ornithology researcher at Rutgers University in New Jersey and the director of Freshkills Biological Station in Staten Island, New York.
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Even if you haven't heard of Canada jays, you've heard of their relatives. Members of the corvid family, they belong to the same group as American crows, blackbilled magpies, and jays including blue, Steller's and scrub. "Unlike many of the other jays, a Canada jay doesn't have a crest of any kind; it just has a rounded head," says Dale Gentry, director of conservation for Audubon Upper Mississippi River.In 2018, the Canada jay's name was changed from gray jay, but Dale thinks the former adjective was fitting. "Most of its body is shades of gray with some white," he says. "There are different subspecies that have different physical traits, but most of them have some lighter coloring on their foreheads, upper breasts and throats, each with a darker streak that starts at each eye and goes back."
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