The blue jay bird is famous for its brilliant blue feathers, but these feathers are not blue. Unlike most other birds, these birds lack blue pigments in their plumage. Blue is not a pigment but an ...

From Macfarlane’s writings I learnt the surprising fact that the jay’s feather isn’t actually blue ! There is no pigment, the structure of the feather sucks in all the colour except the one ...

The markings and colours of jay feathers are dashes, dots and streaks of black and rufous-brown. But it’s the unmistakable dazzling blue wing feathers, gleaming like a sapphire bracelet ...