$Painted Bunting at Ft.Fisher south eastern NC. With every color of the rainbow showing in his plumage, this is truly a stunning bird to photograph and see in real life. But what makes the male Painted Buntings plumage so vibrant? As it turns out itÃ¢â¬â¢s a combination of feather structure and three pigments which contribute to the colorful feathers found on these handsome birds: melanin, carotenoids and porphyrins. *Melanin-Naturally produced by the birds displays as black, brown, red and pale yellow in feathers. * Carotenoids- Birds which display the reds, oranges and yellows in their plumage is attributed to carotenoids when they eat specific plants or insects, like spiders or grasshoppers, which eat the carotenoids the birds need for their feather colors. * Porphyrins- A modified amino acid producing pink, brown, red and green pigmentation. *Feather structure-That bright blue to violet head color is actually a trick of the light. When sunlight passes through certain proteins and pockets of air trapped between feather barbules Ã¢â¬â tiny filaments extending from the barbs of a feather Ã¢â¬â it refracts, just like light passing through a prism.$

painted bunting north carolina

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