Trick question: what color is a pink flamingo? Answer: gray. Naturally. : )
Lesser Flamingo
At least they're born gray and on their own would pretty much stay that way. But When you see them (say at the zoo) they’re pink right? So what’s up with that? Well. It takes some help. And here’s the secret: zookeepers feed them food coloring. Think I’m kidding? I’m not. But hey. That’s show biz. : ) To be fair it’s just a chemical version of something found in the foods they normally eat in real life. Carotenoids [ca-ROT-a-noids]: a group of yellow and orange pigments made largely by plants and algae.
They’re in nearly everything and most creatures consume them one way or another. Birds then throw in a few enzymes and turn them into stunning colors. For flamingos that would be pink. Or sometimes orange.
Baltimore Oriole
We (and other mammals) consume Carotenoids too. (Like carotene in carrots.) Though not usually in great enough quantities to change our color. But it can be done. Take too many Carotenoid pills trying to get a sunless tan, and you too may turn a stunning orange. : )
Our normal skin and hair coloring comes from a pigment we produce called melanin. Some birds feathers are colored by melanin too. They are boring but durable. Look closely and you can tell them. They’re brown. Or black. :) Like juncos or crows.
Oregon Junco
Northern Crow
So that accounts for brown, black, pink, yellow, orange and even red in special cases. Easy.
But blue is an altogether different matter. There is no natural pigment that can make a bird blue. Carotenoids can’t make blue in birds either. So what about bluebirds? Well I hate to break it to you, but technically there’s no such thing. I know people love bluebirds, and I don’t want to ruin any lives here . So let me explain. It's an optical illusion. Kind of.
Blue in birds is created when light interacts with clear, colorless molecules on the surface of their feathers. It's keratin (the stuff Rhino horns and fingernails are made of). This outer layer scatters light (a little like a prism). What we see are brilliant blues. In this case beauty isn’t skin deep. Or feather deep.
Western Bluebird
The feathers themselves, undereath that clear layer, are actually drab gray. If you don’t believe me, take a hammer and pound one flat. That will destroy the very thin molecular pattern on top. The feather will now be dull and dark.
But of course by that time so will the bird. :)
