Plumage colours

["Margaret Leggoe" <>]

 

The colour that hits our eyes or the sensor/film in a camera is what is reflected off the surface we are looking at.  The type, amount and angle of the light that hits the surface – not to mention the reflectivity of the surface itself – will determine what our retinas receive.  Is an Australian reed warbler really this colour?  Well, if it is within a few minutes of sunrise, that is what the eye and camera are hit with.  Why does the camera appear to record it differently?  Because it doesn’t have a human brain in it to make immediate compensatory calculations.

Margaret.