Feather color and diet?

[Sasha2]

Im curious.Ive read that red factor canaries have to have a special food to make them bright red.
Does diet give other birds noticeably brighter colors? Like the Sun conure for instance(although they are so bright I cant imagine them any brighter).Would they require more Carotenes or something similiar to help them keep thier colors?

This article was interesting.Ive got a splitting headache so skimmed it more then read it but I got the gist.
PETCRAFT - Red Factor Canary Color Feeding

 

[Featheredsamurai]

Red factor canaries are kinda like flamingos in terms of color

Just feed your conure a excellent diet and the colors will flourish don't worry about any special foods.

 

[MonicaMc]

Food does not directly affect the color of the feathers.... i.e. if you try and feed red canary food to a sun conure, the sun conure probably wont become any redder than it already is!

That's not to say that a healthy diet doesn't affect a birds overall color, because it does. Just don't expect the birds *normal* colors to change! An unhealthy bird on a poor diet will more likely have dull or off-colored feathers compared to a healthy bird - and Rosie (Copperarabian's galah) is full proof of what a healthy diet can do to a sick bird! (she went from an unhealthy color to a healthy color!)


Here's one article that you may be interested in reading!
What Gives Feathers Their Color | Parrot Parrot

 

[Sasha2]

Hey thanks for the article.Very interesting.
Just brings about more questions.I know birds see better and more colors then we do I wonder if they see more on each other? If its just the way the feathers reflect light, I wish I could see like bird.

 

[Pinkbirdy]

I switched my food from different types of pellets and some seed mix [also fruits and vegs] everyday.To 12 bean mix ,veg and some veg pasta [also fruit and vegs everyday] I do this every other day on the off day pellets and seed.I have noticed a difference [their coloring does seem brighter ]

 

[Featheredsamurai]

Hey thanks for the article.Very interesting.
Just brings about more questions.I know birds see better and more colors then we do I wonder if they see more on each other? If its just the way the feathers reflect light, I wish I could see like bird.

I bet they do. With birds like eclectus you can often tell their mood by color. A male eclectus with a bright green head is giving you a clear warning to stay away, but us humans aren't always keen enough to notice. I bet other birds are getting all sorts of visuals from that, and we have no idea lol

source

 

[MonicaMc]

Birds can and do see more! Budgies proved this.... Following images contain two blue budgies and two green budgies.... blue budgies don't light up quite the same...

Not the best image of Casey, my cinnamon pearl pied tiel under black light.... but you can see the yellow of her face light up

But here's an image of a young male lutino cockatiel under a black light.... see how he lights up!

And amazons are interesting, too!!!!
Sexual Dichromatism in the Blue-fronted Amazon Parrot (Amazona aestiva) Revealed by Multiple-angle Spectrometry - Google Docs

http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&sour...SCa9Veu_QQP3h8Gvw&sig2=7uXObPWAXwWjqSDq5PhRYg - Download PDF File



Birds with yellow may appear vastly different than birds without yellow. Budgies also have iridescent blue patches on their face. The following video *REALLY* shows it!

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=To5_i4n19eU]Budgies by blacklight! - YouTube[/ame]



More here....
Who's a bright budgie then? › News in Science (ABC Science)