Maxed out Grackle

[a200user]

Great capture, Scott! Yes they are interesting in the right light. I have seen many that display the blue as in yours, and others that display more of a green hue.

I've never been sure if the same bird can display either color depending on how the light is reflected or if some individuals have a blue tint and others the green.

And I agree with Roy, I'd like to send the flock that roosts in my Arborvitae trees every spring to you. In addition to the noise and crap, in a few weeks, after they lay their eggs, they will be attacking me everytime I go in my yard.

[penolta]

snostorm wrote:

It almost looks as if it's feathers and legs are made of metal.
Most of the time, they just look like small crows
Scott

"Metallic" is more accurate than you might think. Feathers are pretty amazing structures - much more complicated than you would think. Colors are produced in various ways - either by pigment, by structure, or a combination of both. Structural colors are produced by reflection, refraction, or a combination of both, sometimes changing along with the direction of the light striking them. So when a feather looks metallic, it is reflecting light as does metal.