For humans, there's a strong correlation between color and beauty. Hence our disappointment when the palette of fall foliage fades into the monochromatic hues of winter. However, nature's creatures can't afford such sentimentality. To them, color is an operational tool critical to their survival. This is especially true of birds.

Here's an oh-so brief overview of the roll color plays in avian life, as well as a look at some of the most stunning birds in Colorado...and around the world.

Nature usually bestows male birds with the brightest mating plumage. Rather than being arbitrary, it's an evolutionary move calculated to produce and successfully fledge more young birds. All birds see light within the UV spectrum thanks to specialized cone receptors in their eyes. During breeding season, female birds put this keen visual sense to good use by scrutinizing the feather colors of potential mates. Those with the strongest, most vibrant tints make the reproductive short list. That's because boldly colored feathers are an indication of strong health. And a healthy male will give the female her best chance of not only hatching a seasonal brood, but protecting it, too.

Yet, breeding female birds also have a visual secret weapon. It's not color, but rather the lack of it. Blending into the environment is a way for females to hide themselves, their nests and the young within from the searching gaze of predators. So while male Red-winged Blackbirds receive flashy red and yellow feathered epaulettes on their wings, females are brown with a patchwork of black vertical lines covering their bodies. For a bird that traditionally builds its nests within wetland cattail forests, this makes sense.

Finally, there's a perception that birds become more colorful as one approaches the tropics. This is true...sort of. It's not that birds are more colorful. It's that there is a far larger population of colorful birds. (The tropics are also riddled with birds that are the very definition of bland.) Consider this: Canada, the U.S. and Mexico are home to approximately 2,000 bird species. Yet Ecuador, a South American country the size of Colorado, contains 1,600 bird species alone within its borders. Thanks to the tropics' agreeable climate and abundant food, many of Ecuador's birds - and birds throughout the Western Hemisphere's tropics - have the luxury of evolving showy appendages such as exotic plumes, crests...and color.

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Colorful Birds of Colorado

Wood Duck

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Western Tanager

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Yellow-breasted Chat

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Lazuli Bunting

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Cedar Waxwing

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American Kestrel

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Colorful Birds of the World

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Black-backed Dwarf Kingfisher

South & Southeast Asia

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Fiery-throated Hummingbird

Costa Rica & western Panama

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Mandarin Duck

Russia, China & Southeast Japan

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Nicobar Pigeon

Southeast Asia & Oceana

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Resplendent Quetzal

Southern Mexico to Panama

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Splendid Fairy Wren

Australia

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