Can Birds Differentiate Between Colours?

[Caran]

We had a tatty bird table that OH made about 13 years ago. It was falling to bits so he made a new one. Exactly the same design, a rectangular piece of wood with beading around the edges. The only difference is the colour of the wood. This is a lot lighter than the old one. He varnished it and nailed it to its post.
The birds haven't been near it since he did it on Sunday.
I suggested he paint it darker so he used some matt black paint on it. Still
no birds have been on it.
Is it the colour or do birds not like change?

[pixie374]

It could smell different? I think they'll be a bit suspicious until they get used to it.
I think they can see colour- or peacocks would be a bit pointless...

[pixie374]

//A new study, published this month in the journal Behavioral Ecology, finds that birds not only can see more colors than they have in their plumage, because of additional color cones in their retina that are sensitive to ultraviolet range, but they also see colors that are invisible to humans.//

[-Talbot-]

I think they can see colour- or peacocks would be a bit pointless...


What is the point of peacocks then?

[pixie374]

To attract peahens....

[Peter Pedant]

yes
they have eyes like kinda we do

but there is a drop of coloured oil at the base of the cell and that filters the light into three so the coloured light with one hue taken out is processed by the avian retina- [yes really and you did ask]

Mammalian eye is kinda different

see
http://www.pigeon.psy.tufts.edu/avc/husband/avc4eye.htm

interesting question - I think I will settle down and read the ref I have given you - our phys lecturer kinda got bored during his optic phys lectures at Cge in the early seventies

[DarceyK123]

They may be able to see its different but will get used to it being there but I'm guessing it's probably also the smell.

[Old_Geezer]

Makes one wonder how they perceive colours outside the human visual frequency range. What can it look like to them ? What's left to sense ?

[Buenchico]

The simple fact that there's been human activity around the bird table site, together with the 'newness' of the table which has been installed (which might relate to the levels of 'shine' on the two tables, or even to its odour) might explain why birds are currently shunning the new table.

Colour vision in birds is a complex subject, with some species having colour vision biased towards violet (and therefore not too dissimilar to our own) but with other species having colour vision biased towards ultraviolet. (The amount of ultraviolet light being reflected by the new table might be very different to that from the old table. You wouldn't be able to see any difference but it could be obvious to a bird ).

A little light reading for you:
https://academic.oup.com/mbe/article/20/6/855/982805/Complex-Distribution-of-Avian-Color-Vision-Systems

[Caran]

Thank you for all the varied comments and suggestions.
I think it might be the smell too.
They are used to activity around the table as I feed them daily and usually they wait until I have gone inside and then they come to feed.

[Hopkirk]

If you served my dinner on a freshly varnished piece of wood, I might not be very keen either.

[Caran]

Hopkirk OH painted over it with black matt paint so varnishwas covered.

[Hopkirk]

Still an awful lot of paint solvent coming off that will probably deter the birds for several weeks or more, I would have thought.