10 Surprising Reasons Birds Have So Many Vibrant Colors

Birds are the most colorful terrestrial vertebrates on the planet. This is no surprise since birds appear in a wide range of blues, purples, reds, and yellows, while mammals are commonly shades of brown and gray. People often admire brightly colored birds without thinking twice, but have you ever wondered why birds come in so many vibrant colors?

Most animals are colored the way they are for a reason, and birds are no different. Since birds appear in such a wide range of colors, it’s interesting to explore why they look the way they do. There are thousands of living bird species, and the reason for a bird’s coloring varies between species. For most birds, environment and habits play a huge role.

1. Color Vision


Birds have improved color vision compared to humans. We have three cones in our eyes, while birds can have up to five. So, birds can detect a wider range of colors than we can, and their feather displays may seem even more colorful to them. Thus, one of the reasons birds have bright plumage is because it works well with their color vision. Many mammals have worse color vision than humans, which explains why they don’t have colors like red, green, and purple in their appearance.

With birds, even feathers that don’t look brightly colored to us might look colorful to them. Since birds can see more colors, a solid-colored bird might look vibrantly colored to other birds. For example, researchers have found that starlings can see bright UV colors on each other that humans wouldn’t notice, which can help females find mates even though the males have neutral-colored feathers. So, not only are birds more colorful than most terrestrial vertebrates, but from a bird’s perspective, there are even more colors than we can imagine.
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