This little girl has been sleeping on our deck in the mornings.  Her head is all tucked in backwards under her wing.  I thought she was a gull, but I’ve never seen one sit in the shape of a football. I sat on the deck this morning waiting for her to move, and started shooting pics.  These are un-edited to show how hard it is to see color from the house.  We have had a problem with identifying the colors trying to match them to our field guides. 

Today we got an answer!  I am on a Yahoo blog of local birders and someone posted that they had seen a loon with Green feathers in the neck. He led me to this article which he wrote –

When Black is Green – iridescent colors are not produced by feather pigmentation – Read more

Melanins occur as tiny granules of color in both the skin and feathers of birds. Depending on their concentration and location, melanins can produce colors ranging from the darkest black to reddish browns and pale yellows.

There is an excellent document on Bird Colors on the Cornell Site of  All About Birds.  They have several photographic examples of Pigment Based and Structural Based Colors.

We have to get out in the early morning to see the iridescent colors of the feathers – as most of our day provides for back lit conditions of the birds – which shows through their pigment color.  The All About Birds site explained that a Stellar Jay feather will show the iridescent blue when held in front of you, but if you shine a light through the back of it, it will appear dark brown, as you are seeing the pigment.

Range Bayer of Newport, Oregon said today in an email – “The interplay of light and distance affects how some birds with iridescent plumage appear, and field guides can affect our perception
of how they are supposed to look.”

For the bird study – I sat and listened to the sounds – many of the birds are building nests. It was really interesting to hear one call the other, and then have them follow each other to the tree or to the supply gathering area.  I had to sit totally still while listening, if I moved just a bit the sound would change and the would not fly across.  I do not see either one of my sons sitting silently for that long.  I did take some video of the sounds – I will work on editing them.

The next post will be of my reward for sitting out in the cold. . . . . .