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Do Birds See Color?
© Paul Bannick
Have you ever wondered if a hummingbird can recognize colors other than red, or if other birds see color? What about this male Scarlet Tanager? Some male birds literally shimmer with brilliant colors-the Wood Duck and peacock, for instance. But color is probably lost on nocturnal birds, which may actually be colorblind. The eye accounts for 15% of the weight of a bird's head; of a human's, only 1%. Hummingbirds are thought to be sensitive to ultraviolet light, since the flowers from which they drink display patterns visible only in ultraviolet light.
BirdNote®
Do Birds See Color?
Written by Frances Wood
This is BirdNote!
[Sounds of the Rufous Hummingbird]
This Rufous Hummingbird is probably seeking out red flowers, or a red-colored feeder, to find nectar. Have you ever wondered if the hummer can recognize other colors or if other birds see color?
[More hummingbird sounds]
Given that some male birds—the Peacock and Wood Duck for example—literally shimmer with brilliant colors, it’s not surprising to learn that birds active during daylight have a very keen color perception. Nocturnal birds, like owls and nightjars, however, are probably colorblind.
The eye of an average-sized bird accounts for 15 percent of the weight of the bird’s head, whereas a human’s eye accounts for only one percent. But, it’s the diversity of visual pigments and the variety of brightly colored oil droplets inside the cones of birds’ eyes that lead scientists to conclude that a bird’s sense of color is very well developed. Some birds, including hummingbirds, are thought to be sensitive to ultraviolet light, since the flowers from which they drink display patterns only visible in ultraviolet light.
The next time you watch a hummingbird moving from one red flower to the next to sip nectar, remember that that tiny puffball may perceive color better than any of us humans.
[More Rufous Hummingbird]
You can hear previous episodes of BirdNote by coming to our web site, BirdNote.org. The BirdNote theme music was composed and played by Nancy Rumbel and John Kessler. I’m Frank Corrado.
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Sounds of the Rufous Hummingbird provided by The Macaulay Library of Natural Sounds at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Ithaca, New York. Recorded by G. A. Keller.
Ambient sounds provided by Kessler Productions.
Producer: John Kessler
Executive Producer: Chris Peterson
© 2008 Tune In to Nature.org
ID#052405seeKPLU
