Just How Blue Are You Whistling Thrush ?

Sattal, Uttarakhand

What’s the most fantastical natural colour you can think of ? The one colour that’s been used to best create Aliens and Gods in fiction and comic books for me has to be Blue. It’s not a natural colour as in it’s not common for plants and animals to create it. In fact, the ones who can create blue or its appearance always appear fantastical and gorgeous. They stick out and are a certain draw for my camera and everyone else’s. My second post on here was about the fantastical, reflective, blue feathers trick that some African birds pull off. That’s how amazing it gets. I betcha every kid remembers the kingfisher who they may have only seen a picture of yet but they will probably never know the name of the common Myna who they see very often .That’s the power of blue in nature.

Well, there aren’t many blue animals around so the birds that do appear to be blue always stick out from the rest and that was exactly the case with the Blue Whistling Thrush for me when I first saw them. There were new birds all around me that morning at the hide but this guy flew up to the perch and just demanded attention. Period. They get their attention alright and it shows in the confidence. Blue, with white streaks that beautifully end at sprinkled dots along with those yellow bills was quite the statement to make for an introduction and trust me, the impression stuck well. I’ll never forget his name. As for the confidence, it shows clearly in the pictures I think. Oh he didn’t muck about the hide for long either. Came in, got his fill while completely disregarding the hangers on and exited in a hurry. No mess, no time wasted and no fuss.

As he posed some, I was going about my business of taking pictures and guessed that these guys were probably part of the Corvid family based just on the look and attitude of them, which I found similar to Crows and Treepies. But these guys are actually part of the Flycatcher family. They’re not classified as Thrushes even anymore thanks to molecular studies done in 2010. There are nine kinds of Whistling Thrush birds around of which two are seen in India and the rest are scattered around Asia. What makes them unique is that they whistle pretty much like us Humans at dusk and dawn. These guys are foragers and feed on the ground usually and on snails, crabs, fruits and insects. Their nests are bulky, moss cups found usually in tree forks, caves and ledges near water.

They all appear blue, these Whistling Thrush birds. Unlike the metallic blue birds of Africa who appear to even change colour because of the melanin in their feathers which is prism like and produces the metallic blue appearance (Ref : Reflective, metallic, colour morphing birds), these guys’ feathers do what’s called ultraviolet reflectance. Long story short, the blue is produced by the reflection of ultraviolet light by their feathers due to their arrangement. They actually aren’t pigmented blue. None of them are blue actually. In fact there are no blue birds or animals. Blue isn’t really a natural pigment and you’d have to be an Alien, God or perhaps a cartoon character to be blue in actuality. We’re being swindled by reflection and these guys are reaping the benefits of the novelty effect is where it’s actually at for Humans, plain and simple. But then you can’t really blame the player in this case at all cause he doesn’t even see the colour spectrum the same way as we do in the first place. Birds’ colour spectrum includes UV, so as far as they’re concerned, they’re just the right colour for their kind. I guess that ends the mystery of fantastical coloration of blue birds so we can leave it at perception’s gate and just blame the larger game itself for our misunderstanding.

He’s not really true blue after all you see. That Whistling Thrush. He’s actually Black.