Kingfisher colouring UK (1 Viewer)

Finlayson

Nowadays I prefer a glass of wine.

• Oct 13, 2011

• #1

Hi Folks, not an ID question this but a general question - why does the blue back stripe on a KF appear so bright and colourful compared to the rest of the blue plumage ? ... is it becouse :-

1. Its a genuinly different colour ?
2. The feathers are the some colour as the rest of the plumage but
formed in a ridge which refracts the ligh at a diferent angle.

Your wise input and observations greatly appreciated .... John Finlayson.

 

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FalconBirder

Raptor Ethologist

• Oct 13, 2011

• #2

Hi John,

I've caught, handled and released a significant number of Kingfishers in the course of ringing activities and can assure you that no special refractive ridge exists. Each individual feather really is that amazing colour and differs markedly from the colouration of the feathers covering the rest of the body.

Hope this helps.

 

Last edited: Oct 13, 2011

Strandman

Well-known member

• Oct 13, 2011

• #3

Finlayson said:

Hi Folks, not an ID question this but a general question - why does the blue back stripe on a KF appear so bright and colourful compared to the rest of the blue plumage ? ... is it becouse :-

1. Its a genuinly different colour ?
2. The feathers are the some colour as the rest of the plumage but
formed in a ridge which refracts the ligh at a diferent angle.

Your wise input and observations greatly appreciated .... John Finlayson.

Click to expand...

intriguing topic- others with more knowledge will be along hopefully, but my limited grip on this is that

--bue colour in birds is very rarely a result of pigmentation

--its produced by feather structure scattering light (air pockets within the feathers)

--so could well be that kingfisher rump/back hackles are internally structured for extra intense colour from scatter, compared to other blue, blueish looking feathers

--plus of course there's the point that the rump/back hackles may also affect UV light differently to other feathers, so to another Kingfisher that backstripe might be more or less striking than it looks to us

 

Last edited: Oct 13, 2011

stevo

Well-known member

• Oct 13, 2011

• #4

Yes there`s no blue pigment in the feathers in fact the bright colouration serves as a warning to predators.In fact they have no predators because the flesh tastes awful apparently.

Steve.

 

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Tideliner

Well-known member

• Oct 13, 2011

• #5

You can also tell the sex of your kingfisher by the shade of blue. Males are a rich bright blue , females are a greenish blue.

 

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dram7

Well-known member

• Oct 16, 2011

• #6

stevo said:

Yes there`s no blue pigment in the feathers in fact the bright colouration serves as a warning to predators.In fact they have no predators because the flesh tastes awful apparently.

Steve.

Click to expand...

Someone has eaten a kingfisher?

 

A

Adam M

Well-known member

• Oct 16, 2011

• #7

dram7 said:

Someone has eaten a kingfisher?

Click to expand...

Someone has tasted pretty mush anything and everything. If I remember rightly Darwin was a member of a society that ate a wide variety if species, the name of which had something to do with gluttony, and prided themselves on eating rare species, at least rare to the taste buds. Google it, see what comes up.

Adam

 

Fozzybear

Ich bin ein Vogelbeobachter

• Oct 16, 2011

• #8

It was the Glutton Club in Cambridge:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/2003/mar/09/foodanddrink.features15

 

stevo

Well-known member

• Oct 16, 2011

• #9

Well you learn something every day thanks for the info.

Steve.

 

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dram7

Well-known member

• Oct 20, 2011

• #10

The RSPB prosected a guy for killing a golden eagle once. His defence was that he was shooting a pheasant and the eagle got in his line of fire. The judge asked what he did with the eagle and he said he ate it."You ATE a golden eagle. What did it taste like." "It tasted a bit like Red Kite".
Ho, Hum. I must be in a good mood for a change.