What gives an Australian finch its brilliantly colored red, yellow or orange bill? A major new study has uncovered the ...

Why Yellow Birds Mysteriously Turn Red. No one could figure out why a North American woodpecker's feathers were changing color—until now. By Carrie Arnold. October 21, 2016 ...

Two teams of researchers have independently identified a gene-encoded enzyme that converts yellow pigments obtained from the diet into red pigments, which birds use to color their feathers, bills ...

"To produce red feathers, birds convert yellow dietary pigments known as carotenoids into red pigments and then deposit them in the feathers," says Miguel Carneiro of Universidade do Porto in ...

New research identified a genetic enzyme in birds that converts yellow pigments from their food into red pigments applied to their bills, feathers, and skin.

Many red-colored birds have to convert yellow pigments in their food into the red pigments that make their feathers and beaks so brilliant. By Karen Hopkin. IMAGE 100 (MARS) ...

The gene, called CYP2J19, allows birds and turtles to convert the yellow pigments in their diets into red, which they then use to heighten color vision in the red spectrum through droplets of red ...

This rare yellow cardinal has been frequenting backyard bird feeders in Rushville, Illinois, since February 2020. Of the 12 million (mostly fiery or red-tinged) cardinals in North America, there ...

Now, a bird with the same genetic mutation -- one that makes the bird’s feathers appear bright yellow instead of red-- has been spotted in the Birmingham suburbs, about 15 miles away from the ...

This kind of mutation happens in other red-feathered birds ― even woodpeckers ― but this really stands out on male cardinals. (Female cardinals are duller in color. You’d hardly notice one.) ...