The scarlet ibis looks bright orange-red to us but that’s not what the ibis sees.
22 February 2013
Unlike humans, birds can see ultraviolet light. This trait was discovered by accident and largely ignored until we figured out that most birds have ultraviolet-reflectant feathers. This opened up a whole new view of plumage.
Above is my poor attempt at showing what this looks like. Instead of orange-red the ibis appears purplish to himself and other birds — more purple than I can show. For an awesome photo of what birds actually look like click here and scroll down to see three views of a cockatiel.
When the ultraviolet colors came to light we uncovered many surprises. The axillary feathers of northern saw-whet owls are UV-reflectant. Who knew their armpits were so flashy! The brightness fades in older feathers so bird banders use UV light to age the owls. Here’s a saw-whet UV photo from Luke DeGroote, Carnegie Museum of Natural History. (Click on the photo caption to read more.)
The world of birds is far more colorful than we imagine.
A scarlet ibis does not look scarlet to an ibis. Really.
(Credits:
Scarlet ibis photo by tj on Wikimedia Commons, retouched by Kate St. John to attempt ultraviolet shades. Click on the image to see the original.
Northern saw-whet UV axillary feathering courtesy Luke DeGroote, Carnegie Museum of Natural History.
Today’s Tenth Page is inspired by page 100 of Ornithology by Frank B. Gill.)
I like the examples in your links. Boy would it be cool to walk through a field of wildflowers with bee vision or to be a bird on a bright sunny day in the spring. How trippy. It’s like good macro-photography revealing worlds of which we are largely unaware.