TIL crows, starlings and similar birds only *look* black to us — they’re actually very colorful in ways human eyes are unable to perceive.
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TIL crows, starlings and similar birds only *look* black to us — they’re actually very colorful in ways human eyes are unable to perceive. 🤯
Remember that next time people can’t see your “colors”.
Some colors just require different eyes.
@leaverou I think that is a starling, but that makes it no less amazing.
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@leaverou I think that is a starling, but that makes it no less amazing.
@leaverou In the right light you get a glimpse of their incredible colors.
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@leaverou That's a starling, not a crow, but very cool nonetheless! Magpies also have pretty iridescent green-black feathers, while crows and ravens seem inky black - would love to see a bird's eye version of a raven.
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@leaverou I think that is a starling, but that makes it no less amazing.
@catraxx Thanks! I did fact check it and it seems to apply to crows too, but couldn't tell what the bird was in the infographic. I edited the OP.
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TIL crows, starlings and similar birds only *look* black to us — they’re actually very colorful in ways human eyes are unable to perceive. 🤯
Remember that next time people can’t see your “colors”.
Some colors just require different eyes.
@leaverou Who keeps putting the UV at the lower, and infrared at the upper part of the spectrum??!
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@catraxx Thanks! I did fact check it and it seems to apply to crows too, but couldn't tell what the bird was in the infographic. I edited the OP.
@leaverou Yeah they both do it, for sure.
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TIL crows, starlings and similar birds only *look* black to us — they’re actually very colorful in ways human eyes are unable to perceive. 🤯
Remember that next time people can’t see your “colors”.
Some colors just require different eyes.
@leaverou Could you make the colors visible by taking a photo in RAW format and adjusting the color settings? I don't know how camera sensors work, but maybe they're able to capture these colors.
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TIL crows, starlings and similar birds only *look* black to us — they’re actually very colorful in ways human eyes are unable to perceive. 🤯
Remember that next time people can’t see your “colors”.
Some colors just require different eyes.
@leaverou I don't think that infography makes any sense. We do have a sensibility to green, but we still see colors from 400nm to 800nm. Also, what species of crow is that? I don't know any with white spots and a yellow beak.
Is there any source for that?
Edit: definitely, the curves don't mean anything
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@leaverou Who keeps putting the UV at the lower, and infrared at the upper part of the spectrum??!
@ShnoofleBear @leaverou it's arbitrary really - you can use freq or wave length for scale
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@leaverou I don't think that infography makes any sense. We do have a sensibility to green, but we still see colors from 400nm to 800nm. Also, what species of crow is that? I don't know any with white spots and a yellow beak.
Is there any source for that?
Edit: definitely, the curves don't mean anything
@petitmote @leaverou having less types of cone cells means you have more metameres, but I don't think it applies here. chroma range is another matter. and there's brightness range.
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@leaverou Could you make the colors visible by taking a photo in RAW format and adjusting the color settings? I don't know how camera sensors work, but maybe they're able to capture these colors.
@alpacamale @leaverou
In the right sunlight you can see most of these colors (Never seen one this vibrant).
But I'd imagine a camera has the range to pick a lot of it up since the visible spectrum is the typical target. -
@petitmote @leaverou having less types of cone cells means you have more metameres, but I don't think it applies here. chroma range is another matter. and there's brightness range.
@mattesilver @leaverou yes, I don't think the curve corresponds to the sensibility of the numan eyes nor the colors of the photography
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TIL crows, starlings and similar birds only *look* black to us — they’re actually very colorful in ways human eyes are unable to perceive. 🤯
Remember that next time people can’t see your “colors”.
Some colors just require different eyes.
@leaverou Just today morning i layed in the sun with my dog and a flock of starlings started scavaging the park we were in. The sunlight reflected super colorful on them.
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TIL crows, starlings and similar birds only *look* black to us — they’re actually very colorful in ways human eyes are unable to perceive. 🤯
Remember that next time people can’t see your “colors”.
Some colors just require different eyes.
@leaverou wait, birds are tetrachromatic? Cool!
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TIL crows, starlings and similar birds only *look* black to us — they’re actually very colorful in ways human eyes are unable to perceive. 🤯
Remember that next time people can’t see your “colors”.
Some colors just require different eyes.
@leaverou
I used to toss peanuts to crows regularly, and they were comfortable approaching me. One day in early winter, an hour or so after sunrise, a crow walked close, in front of me, between me and the sun. I was wearing amber polarized sunglasses, and just for ten seconds or so I saw red and turquoise bars on its wings - one of the most astonishing and beautiful things I remember. I've never been able to duplicate it, and have never found corroborating evidence, but I remember thinking "oh that's how they can tell each other apart" -
TIL crows, starlings and similar birds only *look* black to us — they’re actually very colorful in ways human eyes are unable to perceive. 🤯
Remember that next time people can’t see your “colors”.
Some colors just require different eyes.
@leaverou Evidence, if needed, that we do not see the real world - what we experience is an approximate proxy.
Besides - the light rays from an object tend to fan in all directions - we only got a tiny sliver of these rays impinging on our retinas. So we only ever perceive very partially. And only perceive a minuscule fraction of all wavelengths.
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TIL crows, starlings and similar birds only *look* black to us — they’re actually very colorful in ways human eyes are unable to perceive. 🤯
Remember that next time people can’t see your “colors”.
Some colors just require different eyes.
-
TIL crows, starlings and similar birds only *look* black to us — they’re actually very colorful in ways human eyes are unable to perceive. 🤯
Remember that next time people can’t see your “colors”.
Some colors just require different eyes.
@leaverou
I was in a zoo JUST today, where I read a sign stating that blackbirds only seem black to humans, while actually being colorful in the bird world. This sign made me a bit mad by telling me such a thing without explaining why. Now only a few hours later, I stumble upon this. Fedi is amazing!
