One of our members posited that parrots are almost color blind without the UV rays of the sun. I know they can see into the UV range, but not heard the lack makes them almost color blind without them. I've not seen any research on this.
Makes a bit of sense though, Salty does poorly when asked to differentiate between colored rings when trick training in the house. Has anyone any research on this thought?
It is very important to remember that with near everything with Parrots weight is a primary concern. They are designed light and near everything about them is keep to a minimum. As a result they have a much smaller range of color and to offset that they reaching to the UV effected range.
It is very easy to get loss here as the vast majority of Posts on PF are defining UV and Vit D. Take most everything you have read here regarding UV and set it on the shelve.
There is no question that UV in bright sunlight greatly improves the UV range of color. That said, cloudy days provide more than enough UV light to illuminate their world. In addition, indoor, especially UV rods and the now common LED light provide enough as well and even more so if they are Daylight Bulbs.
Points to savor from all of this: Birds are not Color Blind! They are color limited. Now that may seem little more than word play, but it is not! They are just limited in what receptors they have. Color Blindness in Humans is the lack of specific receptors (which differ between Humans) are not triggered properly. With Parrots, they just to not have them.
You are correct, there is very little written. The Why; They just don't have them, so why create a doctorate study that states" "They don't have many!"
Just a wild guess, but does salty have difficult with green and blue?
I have seen photos of what they do see and it is wondrous!
