Photography : Birds : Assume a Spherical Dove
An emerald dove fluffs its feathers after a brief bath in the aviary above the Baltimore Aquarium in Maryland. Wait, if this is an emerald dove why does it look bronze? The green color on the emeral dove is cause by the structure of the feathers rather than their pigment. This means that, instead of the feathers reflecting only green light, the vanes on the feathers are the righ spacing such that green light constructively intereferes and all others to destructively interfere. Change the viewing angle, however, and the wavelength which constructively interferes can change, which is probably responsible for the bronze coloration of the above dove. At the bottom of the page I snapped a picture of another dove which did, in fact, look emerald. The white patch on the front of the wing means both of these doves are male.
