bluer than blue

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Things are not always as they appear. Sometimes, what is blue is black

A walk at Seven Islands Wildlife Refuge last Sunday morning turned up numerous indigo buntings. Beaucoups. Or in this case: bluecoups. And it's a luminous color like none other, but are the feathers really that blue? At times, these common songbirds seem to look black.

The feathers of indigo buntings are structured differently from other feathers. They refract light, splitting into color wavelengths like it has passed through a prism. The feather structure gleans out blue light and projects it outward.

In full sun, the feathers of the indigo bunting appear brilliant indigo, bluer than blue, but on cloudy days or if they're backlit, the feathers loose their color and appear to be a drab black.

Perhaps this is why male indigos prefer to perch on the tippy-top of a tree or shrub in full sun to sing for all to see. Hidden inside the foliage, they're as dark as the shadows around them.

- Photo by Dan Pancamo

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