Bird Colours Unravelled

by Herman van Niekerk

Overview

Understanding bird colours is an interesting and fascinating subject, but very complex. The main reason for this is that the colours that the human eye perceives, are actually reflected or refracted light waves; the reflected light waves according to one of two different colour systems. To understand colours is, therefore a hybrid science between biology, optics, chromatics, chemistry, physics, psychology and genealogy.

The reason why conditions such as leucism and melanism have a number of different explanations, some completely wrong, and why a condition such as xanthocronism has been “created” by scientists while it actually does not exist at all, is because of scientists trying to explain the forming and display of colours in birds from different scientific bases. To emphasise this viewpoint: You cannot explain the formation and display of biological, pigment based colours by optics, and you can not explain optically created colours biologically. And in birds colours are created and perceived biologically and optically!

In studying bird colours for more than 40 years, amongst others as a bird breeder, I have made a number of new discoveries related to the creation and display of colours in birds, and especially changes in colour. What I have discovered will explain all the different bird colours seen by bird watchers in nature, and also point scientists in a direction to revise and perfect the “Science of Avichroma”, the name that I have given to the science of studying bird colours.

To relay the information to Mr. Average, I make extensive use of simplified graphics and illustrations. Bear in mind that these do not correspond exactly to what you will see under, for instance, an electron microscope in the cell of a bird, but has the purpose of explaining the different conditions and processes to the layman.

I also try to explain each aspect or process in simplified steps and unscientific language, and in an order where the knowledge required from the first step, is mostly required and essential in understanding the next step(s).

With the knowledge contained in this book, birdwatchers will now be able to fully understand the differently coloured birds of the same species that they may encounter in the field.

Scientists can now also incorporate the new discoveries abour colour and genetic defects in birds as described in this book, in genetic science and adapt their present knowledge bases, theories and definitions where required. They can totally rethink dominance and recessiveness, they can kiss the old theory of xanthocronism goodbye, and look anew at the pure definitions for leucism and melanism. They can also rethink the theory of spontaneous mutations and replace it with the laws of colour changes as a result of specific, identifiable, predictable and calculable colour defects. They can transfer the knowledge obtained from this publication, to other groups of living animals such as fishes, insects and even plants. Breeders breeding animals such as dogs, cats, horses and birds, will also benefit from this knowledge.

Not only does this publication establish Avichroma as the Sciene of Colour in Birds, but it can contribute immensely to the expansion of knowledge in other scientific fields as well.

The author is proud to submit the results of 40 years of intense study to you, the reader, in this publication.

Product Details

BN ID:	2940165114199
Publisher:	Herman van Niekerk
Publication date:	12/11/2021
Sold by:	Smashwords
Format:	eBook
File size:	1 MB

About the Author

I was born on a small farm on the outskirts of Pretoria, South Africa on 26 January 1946. During those years pit toilets, affectionately known as long-drops, were still the norm. When nature called early on that eventful Saturday morning, my mother rushed to the toilet, where I suddenly made my appearance. The farm hand, John Manca, an Italian prisoner of war working for the family, heard mother's frantic calls and rushed to assist her. I was then taken to the maternity hospital for a check-up and a clean-up. As from day 1 I had to learn to stay out of the shit.

I attented primary and secondary schools in Pretoria. At the early age of 10 I wrote my first poem about guineafowls, illustrating my lifelong love for and devotion to birds.

In primary school I already was an avid reader with an enquiring mind. One book, The Wheel paricularly inspired me. The Wheel took me on an interesting, romantic and exotic journey to places around the world such as the pyramyds of Egypt, the Amazon jungle, ancient Greece, the Himalayas and the Great Wall of China.

After school I enrolled at the University of Pretoria and obtained degrees in Antropology in 1967 and Archaeology in 1969. This was followed by nine other formal qualifications in later life in diverse subjects such as training, course development, property, estate agency, tourism and tour guiding. With more than a hint of an artist in me, I also studied graphic art concentrating on the lay-out of publications.

The mainstay of my working life was, after a short spell in the Civil Service, at municipalities, in agricultural and tourism marketing and as secretary for an agricultural co-operative.

As early as 1970 I started publishing newspaper and magazine articles throughout South Africa, followed later by a number of books in both Afrikaans and English. The books included short stories and a book on the life of Eugène Marais, as well as regional bird guides. I was owner and editor of the magazine, Natura, related to nature and nature conservation and especially the game farming aspect therof, and Aves, a newsletter for cage bird breeders.

The flagship project of my books is the innovative and ground-breaking bird book, the 321 page 'SAPPI Birds of South Africa with Callfinder' (English and Afrikaans) as co-author. Apart from various innovative features, this is the first book in the world that conjures up bird calls by pointing the Callfinder instrument to a printed image. Since its publication in 2014, SAPPI Birds of South Africa has consistently been on Briza, its publisher's annual Top 10 list. This book was a sequel to two earlier regional bird guides.

During the early 1980's I relocated to the Waterberg Bushveld and bough a small farm where I as a sideline ran a small holiday resort and started breeding cage birds.This led to my discoveries about the creation and changes in bird colours, which culminated in my research laying the foundation for the science of Avichroma and my new discoveries about colour blindness..

It was also during my stay in the Waterberg that I introduced into South Africa, together with Marion Dunkeld, the Friends movement of volunteer involvement in and assitance to game reserves by the general public, and was co-founder and first Chairman of the Friends of Nylsvley Association, the first Friends group in South Africa.

In Waterberg I intensively studied the changes that occur in bird colours, from the viewpoint that those changed colours were not spontaneously caused by nature, but that they were rather caused by some (unknown) defects.

I started to look for patterns. Fortunately I was involved in the printing industry and had a sound knowledge of the CMYK lithographic printing process, wherein each of the three base colours is alloted the saturation number or value of 100. I studied printed images of lovebirds. Then an idea dawned upon me. I determined the colour saturation values for the different base colours of the birds in the printed pictures (as an example the values of cyan and yellow in stead of green), either where the colours stood alone or were in a mix, or fully saturated or less saturated, and then, suddenly, I discovered the pattern!

Further research proved to me that there was not only a pattern for colour dilution, but in certain colours also for darkening or intensifying. And as the change of one colour led to changes in other colours elsewhere on the bird, I detected that only the three basic colours and black are responsible for all bird colours. Furthermore I found that each colour is only active in a specific block for each species, and that colour defects can decrease or intensify a colour’s saturation, or even result in patches of different colours in birds.

With that knowledge I formulated my different theories of colour in birds, which I published for the first time in the South African bird breeder’s newsletter, AVES, No 21 of October 1988 (see below). It described 5 new and unknown bird genetic colour defects then discovered by me.

When I discovered the Laws of Colour in birds, only about 13 of the 18 first level colour 'mutations' for the Rosy-faced Lovebird were known. I predicted the 'discovery' of the 5 other first level mutations - in fact, I even named them, and suggested changes to certain of the other mutations’ names to conform with the patterns that I discovered. Those 5 predicted mutations appeared as I predicted in bird breeder’s across the world's aviaries over the next couple of years.

Whilst engaged in writing a series of bird books for the bird watchers in the United States of America, a project I embarked on in 2019, I realised that there were reports of rare sightings of a yellow morph of the beautiful Northern Cardinal. Scientists were quick to respond to this new discovery, but to my astonishment were all barking up the wrong tree in their explanations. Some, as usual, blamed spontaneous mututions. Other vehemently declared that it was as a result of carotonoid intake by these birds - both theories have major flaws - why would only certain birds and only males turn yellow, for instance, if the culprit would be carotonoids.

At least three bird species in South Africa from time to time carry the same genetic colour defects, namely the Crimson-breasted Shrike, the Black-collared Barbet and the Red-collared Widowbird, and only I seemed to understand why.

I realised that it was time to introduce my knowledge and my discoveries to the scientific world and to the birding and bird breeding fraternity a second time. I systemized my research into two books, one for bird watchers and one for bird breeders, and published them internationally in 2021. These books included my updated research findings in what I now call the Science of Avichroma as my contribution to advance the sciences of biology, genetics, heridity and optics.'

Earlier I examed the Ishihara colour plates to determine if I could learn something from them about the bird colour changes. I found them quite illogical and cumbersone, and when I tried to study the science that they were based on, I was astounded to find that they were wrongly created from the additive light wave colours of red, green and blue. As these colours can only occupy space (or air) they are not in the human body. In the human body you find the three pigment based primary colours of cyan, magenta and yellow. The receptors in the eye, I found, changed the additive light to subtractive light in the eye. All forms of colour blindness and colour deficiences are, therefore, caused by defects in the human body's subtractive colour system and the colours of cyan, magenta and yellow. And these defects are exactly the same as those that cause colour changes in birds! This great discovery is disclosed in my book "Colour Blindness Breakthrough."