Natural History Wanderings

National Geographic reported on new research that helps explain the relationship between bird color and their diet.

For the yellow-shafted northern flicker, “you are what you eat” has proven freakishly true.

The answer, it turned out, had to do with their diets: The birds were eating red berries that turn their feathers crimson, according to new research published in The Auk. Vibrant yellow, orange, and red hues common in bird plumage actually come from pigments in the food they eat.

Read full story at  Why Yellow Birds Mysteriously Turn Red