Colour sensitivity in parrots

[Saash]

I have been looking into bird behavior and not finding anything about parrots having colour preferences.

My baby Pickles seems to get a bit feisty when she sees red my phone has a red cover and if I video her she gets feisty. If I feed her in my red pajamas she's much louder than if I put on a neutral gown.

Anyone have any experience with parrots and behaviors in response to specific colours?

 

[Inger]

Bumble, when I first got her, had a strong fear response to the color turquoise. Which is my favorite (of course). She would consistently fly away from me, bite me, and act a fool until I changed my shirt, and then she would instantly calm down. She doesn’t react like this most of the time now (she’s almost 4) but the behavior does still make an appearance now and again.


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[chris-md]

Yep, its a phenomenon. Especially when you think about dimorphic species like eclectus who are SUPPOSED to be attuned to colors (e.g. female eclectus seeing something red may trigger territorial behavior, as in the wild it would mean another female intruding on the nest).

 

[wrench13]

Saash, I can't speak for preferences, but parrots definitely see color, much more than humans do. They have a 4th set of cones in their ocular system that allow them to see into the ultraviolet range, so when they look at another parrot for example, what they see is quite different from what we see. I believe its one of the reasons that they are so intuitive in reading our emotional state - they see signs of emotional distress or excitement that we ourselves cannot (opinion here). There was a thread not long ago that had a lot more about this, including pictures of what a parrot might actually see when looking at another, but I can't find the thread.

 

[T00tsyd]

Red has been Syd's panic colour for three years. I now have a deep red housecoat bought without thinking and for a while he avoided me, but I persevered and now after a few months he has grown accustomed to it and ignores it. Red toys have always been ok for some reason but red on a bag or anything else and alarm calls at top decibels is the order of the day! Funnily enough he loves red apples!

 

[Ira7]

When I had my grey, I noticed this within days:

Greys are a prey bird species which often forage on the ground. In a flock, the individual bird blends in with the crowd and won’t be singled out by a predator.

After learning this, I wore grey tee shirts, and even as a very young bird, I could tell she was more relaxed being shouldered on grey color. As she got older, she didn’t care.

 

[wrench13]

Interesting Ira.

I read in some parrot care book that some parrots can be afraid of water bottle spritzers because the tip might be a 'flash' color to them and she suggested trying one with a different color tip.

 

[Laurasea]

I think i have article on parrot vision.
https://animals.mom.com/colors-parrots-can-see-humans-cant-8968.html

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1088876/

 

[Saash]

Thank you everyone, this has been quite entertaining.

I also found a story of someone who had to tell guests not to wear a particular colour I the house for a few years - haha. Its been fun seeing how much she performs though, but when I feed her in red pj's I will wear a gown.

 

[Ira7]

Interesting Ira.

I read in some parrot care book that some parrots can be afraid of water bottle spritzers because the tip might be a 'flash' color to them and she suggested trying one with a different color tip.

I guess my post doesn’t really have to do with parrots’ vision, but more on how they’re wired to react to certain colors.

Putting color acuity aside, all parrots obviously have incredible vision and discretionary talents in this regard. They know who they’re dealing with by vision, like a dog knows a person by smell.

 

[SailBoat]

I think the term 'sensitivity' maybe creating a bit of confusion as that tends to define difficulty more than a reaction too. Clearly there are specific colors that are hardwired and/or learned and they react negatively when confronted with those colors.

Red seems to be one of those colors with most (but not all) Amazons react toward. This could be a connection with predator's eyes reflecting red at night.