Birds That Change Color With Diet

Birds eat some substances that contain carotenoid pigments, such as beta-carotene, isocryptoxanthin and echinenone. These chemicals can either change or enhance the color of a bird's feathers. During digestion and absorption of the food, the pigment is stored in the bird's feathers, which influences the strength of the color. Not every bird will change color on a diet rich with carotenoid pigments, but there are an established few that will change color. Many birds will also fade during the winter when their diet is more restricted.

  1. Flamingos

    • Flamingos come in a wide array of a pink colors, or even white. Flamingos eat plankton and blue-green algae, which are rich in carotenoid pigment. Once eaten, the pigment is broken down into a pink-tinted chemical called canthaxanthin that is stored in the flamingo's feathers, which makes them pink. If the flamingo's diet does not have much carotenoid pigmentation, its feathers will fade to light pink or even white. Wild flamingos are much pinker than flamingos in captivity because their diet is much more varied and rich in carotenoid pigments. Interestingly, the pinker the flamingo, the better its chances of finding a mate.

    Finches

    • The cardinal finch is another kind of bird that changes color depending on diet change. The birds, whose bodies range from brown to white feathers, have brightly-colored plumes. According to a 1976 article in The Auk: A Quarterly Journal of Ornithology entitled, "House Finch Pigmentation: Carotenoid Metabolism and the Effect of Diet," finches feathery plume will change color with the controlled amount of carotenoids in their food. The experimental birds' plumes became brighter or changed shades of red according to the controlled amount of carotenoid pigmentation in their diets.

    Canaries

    • Canaries are naturally bright yellow or green in color. The canary's normal diet will not change its color, even if it is eating wide variety of foods; however, if fed paprika, cayenne, or red pepper, the canary will start to turn a stunning red color. It should be mentioned that, unlike canaries, not all red birds are red because of carotenoid pigments or diet. Many red birds don't even have carotenoid in their diets and remain as red as ever.