To describe my lifelong fascination with flight and with creatures that fly I like to echo the words of John James Audubon who in 1839 wrote of himself as "...one who never can cease to admire and to study with zeal and the most heartfelt reverence, the wonderful productions of an Almighty Creator."
Monday, January 14, 2008
Anna's iridescence
I'm enjoying watching the variation of color that flashes from the gorget of this male Anna's Hummingbird at my feeder, especially when I stop to consider that the color is not from pigment in the feathers, but from iridescence. According to the Audubon Encyclopedia of North American Birds, iridescence is, "the rainbow-like play of interference colors...caused by the scattering of light rays from the special structure of 'iridescent feathers.'" So, what color are those feathers, really?
I'm enjoying watching the variation of color that flashes from the gorget of this male Anna's Hummingbird at my feeder, especially when I stop to consider that the color is not from pigment in the feathers, but from iridescence. According to the Audubon Encyclopedia of North American Birds, iridescence is, "the rainbow-like play of interference colors...caused by the scattering of light rays from the special structure of 'iridescent feathers.'" So, what color are those feathers, really?
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