By contrast, when the light-scattering elements are ordered randomly the way they are in blue bird feathers and some purple beetle scales, the structural coloration can be seen from all angles.

Purple Martin “I went to Venice Rookery, an Audubon location, hoping for an opportunity to get some great photos of the ...

As it turns out, there aren't many blue pigments used by birds in general. So any time you see blue or purple on a bird's wing, you can suspect that at least some of it is structural color ...

Manoharan’s team used large beads to try to enhance red light, but purple appeared instead. The unexpected blue component appears for the same reason the sky is blue, Manoharan says&colon ...

Eocoracias brachyptera, a bird species that lived some 48 million years ago, was blue—the first time that blue feathers have been reconstructed from the fossil record.

Examining fossilised pigments, scientists from the University of Bristol have uncovered new insights into blue colour tones in prehistoric birds. For some time, paleontologists have known that ...

Melanosomes linked with blue feathers are much longer than they are wide Sven Traenkner/Senckenberg Research Institute and Nature Museum in Frankfurt A prehistoric Eocoracias brachyptera bird ...

After ruling out diet, scientists discover the secret behind blue feathers lies inside how the feathers are made. Gavriel Jecan / Corbis For decades, scientists have known how birds with yellow or ...

When is a blue bird not blue? The answer to this question is always.There actually is no such thing as a blue bird. To find out why, Smithsonian asked Scott Sillett, a wildlife biologist at the ...

How birds make those colorful feathers is the topic Samantha Rutledge, an LSU Ph.D. student in ornithology, will address this weekend during a “Special Saturday” event at the LSU Museum of ...