Now for the Major Theme of Why Are Tropical Birds So Colorful

Well, the fact is tropical birds are not the most colorful despite the glorious colors of many birds such as parrots we think we know so well.  This time scientists got interested in just why do some birds get colorful while others look like pigeons.  (Science Daily:  Plumage evolution: Explaining the vivid colors of birds)

The scientists went to Australia because it's been geologically separated from everywhere else for so much time and this resulted in a unique population of birds which first attracted Charles Darwin and now some modern-day Darwins go back to take another look.

As part of his research in collaboration with Vladimír Remeš at Palacký University in the Czech Republic, Friedman headed to Australia to examine the feathers of different birds across the country and its neighboring tropical islands to see if there was a correlation between geographical climate zone and color pattern.  Australia is home to a rich mixture of species, many of which are found nowhere else.  The fact that Australian species were geographically isolated from the rest of the world for so long makes it an excellent place to study evolution.  A trip to Australia as a young man contributed to Charles Darwin's pivotal work on evolution, On the Origin of Species.

- Science Daily

You're probably there already that tropical birds aren't the most colorful or why even write the article but we still need some background on their research.

Friedman began his study at the Australian National Wildlife Collection, where he examined bird specimens from different regions of Australia.  A total of 137 different species from two major songbird families were examined.  Songbirds originated in Australia nearly 30 million years ago.  Research suggests that these birds began diversifying there before colonizing other parts of the world.  The familial relationships of the birds that Friedman examined were compared using an evolutionary tree based on the birds' DNA.  Friedman then used a special instrument to measure the color of the feathers in particular places on the birds.  Birds can see a wider range of colors than humans can, and many are even able to see colors in the UV spectrum in addition to those in the 'visible' spectrum, so the differences in color patterns between birds may appear more pronounced to birds than they appear to humans.  Next, Friedman used data from satellites to describe the geographical region each species lives in. He looked at vegetation, precipitation, and humidity of each region, then combined this data with the evolutionary relationships and color measurements of the birds.

- Science Daily

We see two major gems in that part since we didn't know of songbirds originating in Australia and isn't that a magical thing.

The second is it never occurred here that birds don't see in the same way as humans so they look different to each other from that which we see and it's likely they appear even wilder.

Note:  I wonder if anyone has tried to simulate an image of how a colorful bird looks to another bird while taking into account the increased color range of the bird's eyes.  We still wouldn't be able to see the colors we can't see now but a clever artist might contrive a way to give a similar expression to them.

Mostly this part was just background on the methodology but those two items were just priceless.

The trouncing of the Tropics as the scientists determine it's not true tropical birds are the most colorful.

The results of this study, published in Global Ecology and Biogeography, show that bird species do not evolve more colorful feathers in the tropics compared to their cousins in temperate climates.  "If you look at birds in the tropics, there are a lot of colorful birds that stand out.  But there are really more species in general there, and there are just as many more of the little brown ones" describes Friedman.  "Instead, birds living in the harsh arid climates of inland Australia tended to have fancier colors than those in the lush tropical islands.  Since desert birds have to scramble for mates during the wet season, we think they may be evolving colors that can attract mates quickly."

- Science Daily

There you have it and the case is closed.  So now you can scratch that trip to the lush jungle of Costa Rica to see parrots and go to the burning desert outback in Australia instead.  Do tell anything you meet that Silas sent you but do keep in mind many things out there will bite.  That's just a free bit of Rockhouse tourist advice:  always be aware for any place you will visit of just how many resident creatures bite.