Colour plays an important part in the lives of our feathered friends. Some of the examples presented on this blog include: a flamingo's diet dictates the colour of its plumage, dark-coloured bird eggs are good at retaining heat and chefs are working with farmers to alter the colour of egg yolks using a variety of bird feed.
Recently, studies have shown that migrating birds tend to have lighter-coloured wings. This feature allows them to stay cooler by reflecting the sun's rays away from their bodies. "This would be particularly important for long-distance migrants that undertake extensive flights during which they cannot stop to rest in the shade," says Dr Kaspar Delhey, of the Max Planck Institute for Ornithology in Germany. Research shows this impacts 4000 species or 40% of the world's birds. Considering some species migrate over 2500 miles, paler wings can make the journey more tolerable. Especially, when you consider that most birds make few, if any, stops during their migratory flights.