Hidden Black or White Feather Layers Intensify Songbird Plumage Colors

Songbirds Play Optical Tricks to Make Their Plumage ‘Pop’ - WhoWhatWhy

Songbirds Play Optical Tricks to Make Their Plumage ‘Pop’ (Maria) The author writes, “For painters, it’s the oldest trick in the book: prepare a bare canvas with a base layer of neutral paint, and you can manipulate the saturation and vibrancy of colors. … But humans aren’t the only masters of illusion. New research in Science Advances shows that some songbirds play a similar trick by having a backdrop of black or white plumage underneath their …

Hidden black or white feather layers intensify songbird plumage colors

Many species of songbirds have evolved to have strikingly colorful plumage, aiding them in catching the eye of mates, signaling, and recognizing each other. These eye-catching patterns have long interested scientists, who previously assumed the birds' bright colors arose from only the visible feather layer. However, a new study, published in Science Advances, has shown that these colors are getting a boost in brightness from underlying feather l…

Birds use hidden black and white feathers to make themselves more colourful

The green-headed tanager (_Tangara seledon_) has a hidden layer of plumage that is white underneath the orange feathers and black underneath the blue and green feathers. Daniel FieldBirds are perhaps the most colourful group of animals, bringing a splash of colour to the natural world around us every day. Indeed, exclusively black and white birds – such as magpies – are in the minority. However, new research by a team from Princeton University i…

The secret to what makes colours pop on dazzling songbirds

Hidden layers of colour in the plumage of tanagers and some other songbirds explain what makes them so eye-catching

Songbirds play optical tricks to make their feather colors ‘pop’

Concealed black or white bands on feathers boost the vibrancy of bird plumage