Ever glimpse a flash of brilliant red fly by your window? It sure got my attention. Its name is cardinal, which means "brilliant red" and it's brightness is a measure of its superior health, as read by the much less red female. She's looking for the reddest, i.e. strongest, mate for her chicks. None of the dazzling birds in iNK author, Sneed B. Collard III's latest book of natural wonders Birds of Every Color, lose their intensity. The sparkling photographs, taken by Sneed and his son, Braden, that jump off every page have been carefully curated to amaze and stun the reader.
It's no surprise that this slim, spectacular volume, to be shared and savored by children and adults, can release the inner bird-watcher in the most uninitiated folk, who previously looked at nature -lovers, with their binoculars and over-sized cameras, as strange birds of the human variety.
Did you know that some birds of a color eat food with the same pigments as their feathers? That makes sense. But I'll bet you didn't know that the colors of some other birds are caused by the refractive structure of their feathers and how light passes through them and have no pigment in their feathers what-so-ever. Then there are some nondescript brown birds with feathers containing melanin, the same pigment that colors human skin. And in the strange-but-true department, the Blue-footed Boobies have webbed feet that contain the pigment carotenoid, which makes some squash yellow and carrots orange but gives a blue hue to the skin of their feet.
In bird-world, it's mostly the males that sport the fancy feathers, even if it's just a small dash of color most noticeable to the wandering eye of a female. I have a back-deck in the northeast that overlooks a pond with Canada geese, mallard ducks (love that green head), and a lonely white egret. The same robins revisit every year and have even built a nest in the wreath near my front door and some soft gray doves, once nested in my garage. They got used to our rhythms and were safely ensconced every evening before we closed the garage door for the night. So I'm a lazy bird-watcher, and wait for the birds to come to me. But Sneed and Braden's Bird's of Every Color may just have the power to lead me astray, at least as far as the nearest aviary.
It's no surprise that this slim, spectacular volume, to be shared and savored by children and adults, can release the inner bird-watcher in the most uninitiated folk, who previously looked at nature -lovers, with their binoculars and over-sized cameras, as strange birds of the human variety.
Did you know that some birds of a color eat food with the same pigments as their feathers? That makes sense. But I'll bet you didn't know that the colors of some other birds are caused by the refractive structure of their feathers and how light passes through them and have no pigment in their feathers what-so-ever. Then there are some nondescript brown birds with feathers containing melanin, the same pigment that colors human skin. And in the strange-but-true department, the Blue-footed Boobies have webbed feet that contain the pigment carotenoid, which makes some squash yellow and carrots orange but gives a blue hue to the skin of their feet.
In bird-world, it's mostly the males that sport the fancy feathers, even if it's just a small dash of color most noticeable to the wandering eye of a female. I have a back-deck in the northeast that overlooks a pond with Canada geese, mallard ducks (love that green head), and a lonely white egret. The same robins revisit every year and have even built a nest in the wreath near my front door and some soft gray doves, once nested in my garage. They got used to our rhythms and were safely ensconced every evening before we closed the garage door for the night. So I'm a lazy bird-watcher, and wait for the birds to come to me. But Sneed and Braden's Bird's of Every Color may just have the power to lead me astray, at least as far as the nearest aviary.
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