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Purple feathers!


Azzie

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I gave Cleo a bath in the kitchen sink today, and noticed when her chest feathers were wet they were a distinct violet colour. Not just a purply hue, a definite purple colour, but only when wet.

Does anyone else's AG have this? I managed to take a picture of it which I'll post if people want to see.

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SamsDad wrote:

Oh no, I'm sorry to inform you that Cleo isn't an African Grey... she's an African PURPLE! :P

 

Sorry, couldn't resist a little sillyness.

 

:laugh:

 

Tom

 

Thats a good one Tom but it only applies when they are wet, thanks for the laugh!!:laugh:

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You'll see that a lot with your birds, but it's easy to overlook. I see it myself mostly when they are wet. but also in some photographs. It's caused by many things, from pigments to light scattering effects due to feather structure.

 

I'm sure everyone here will swear that they've seen a green parrot before, but there is actually no such green pigment in the parrot world. A combination of these pigments and the structure of their feathers is what contributes to the colors we see. It's caused by something called the Tyndall Effect, which is a scattering of light. See this link:

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tyndall_effect

 

And you thought your grey was really grey? Our parrots resulting colors--the way we see them--comes from variations of red and yellow pigments, darkening melanin pigments, and feather structure. And all this doesn't include the fact that our parrots can see in the ultra-violet spectrum. So who knows how they look to each other when out in the sunshine. Wouldn't it be cool if we could see the world the way they do?

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