Morning Bird Pic

[sleigh]

MBP: Here's someone we haven't seen in awhile, the blue jay.

Comments

[minnehaha.livejournal.com]

I have never believed for a second that blue jays have no blue pigment in their feathers, as I have been told so many times.

K.

[sleigh.livejournal.com]

My field guide has the same claim: "Feathers don't have blue pigment; refracted sunlight casts blue light." I suppose that could be tested be getting a blue jay feather and putting it in some other light than sunlight and seeing whether or not the color changes. But I do notice that blue jays still look the same to me even on cloudy days when there's no direct sunlight.

[sleigh.livejournal.com]

Your comment sent me out on the interwebs looking. Here's an article: http://dnr.wi.gov/wnrmag/html/stories/2003/feb03/jays.htm