Top 25 birds of the week: Birds Pigment!

Pigments are colored substances that can be found in both plants and animals. The coloration created by pigments is independent of the structure of the feather. Pigment colorization in birds comes from three different groups: carotenoids, melanins, and porphyrines.

Thank you to all the photographers that submitted photos of birds with the theme #birdspigments. We admire birds for their beauty and their ability to fly and most importantly for the role they play in the ecosystem. These pictures create awareness about the variety and beauty of birds in our environment. Here we present the Top 25 photographs of birds of the week.

Australasian Figbird (Sphecotheres vieilloti). Photographed in Sydney, NSW, Australia (Paneendra BA)

Blue Jay (Cyanocitta cristata). Photographed in Galloway Twp, NJ, USA (Kelly Hunt)

Blue Whistling Thrush (Myophonus caeruleus). Photographed in Sattal, Uttrakhand, India (Pankaj Pankaj Kapoor)

Blue-naped Monarch (Hypothymis azurea). Photographed in Pahang Malaysia (TW Loong)

Common Iora (Aegithina tiphia). Photographed in Udaipur, India (Mayank Vaishnav)

Common Kingfisher (Alcedo atthis). Photographed in Purbasthali, West Bengal, India (Gargi Biswas)

Garnet Pitta (Erythropitta granatina). Photographed in Pahang, Malaysia (TW Loong )

Golden-whiskered Barbet (Psilopogon chrysopogon). Photographed in Pahang, Malaysia (Richard Chong)

Indian Pitta (Pitta brachyura). Photographed at the River Tern Lodge, Bhadra Reservoir, Karnataka, India (Sivaraman K)

Indian Roller (Coracias benghalensis). Photographed at the Kanha Tiger Reserve, Mandla, Madhya Pradesh, India (Rajesh Mahajan)

Indian Roller (Coracias benghalensis). Photographed in Kharagpur, West Bengal, India (Gargi Biswas)

Multicolored Tanager (Chlorochrysa nitidissima) by Owen Deutsch

Baya Weaver (Ploceus philippinus). Photographed in Gadhinglaj, Maharashtra, India (Maya Patil)

Indian white-eye (Zosterops palpebrosus). Photographed in Chakki Modh, Himachal Pradesh, India (Kuldip Jaswal)

Painted Spurfowl (Galloperdix lunulata). Photographed in Hampi, Karnataka, India (Harleen Kaur)

Purple Sunbird (Cinnyris asiaticus). Photographed in Kolkata, south West Bengal, India (Pradyut Choudhury)

Purple Swamphen (Porphyrio porphyrio). Photographed in Kadamakkudi, Kerala, India (Sini Antony)

Red-billed Leiothrix (Leiothrix lutea). Photographed in Chakki Morh, Kasauli, Himachal Pradesh, India (Rajesh Mahajan)

Red Naped Ibis (Pseudibis papilosa). Photographed in Ahemdabad, Gujarat, India (Reitesh Khabia)

Rose-ringed Parakeet (Psittacula krameri). Photographed in Bangalore, Karnataka, India (Dr Anand Kumar)

Roseate Spoonbill (Platalea ajaja). Photographed in South Padre Island, Texas, USA (Ellie Kidd)

Rufous Treepie (Dendrocitta vagabunda). Photographed in Udaipur, India (Mayank Vaishnav)

Verditer Flycatcher (Eumyias thalassinus). Photographed in Chakki Morh, Himachal Pradesh, India (Abhinav Poonia)

White-rumped Shama (Copsychus malabaricus). Photographed in Pahang, Malaysia (Richard Chong)

White-throated Kingfisher (Halcyon smyrnensis). Photographed in Kharagpur, West Bengal, India (Gargi Biswas)

Our mission is to build a global community around the freedom and beauty of birds in the wild as ambassadors for the natural ecosystems that they depend upon. They are the music, decoration, and character of every terrestrial habitat on the planet and have been around since the dinosaurs. They are the witnesses and ambassadors of the awesome power of nature. The wide availability of good, cheap optics has opened their world to us for the last few decades. Amazing, affordable DSLR cameras with long lenses are delivering brilliant digital bird imagery to online communities. We are in a day-and-age during which more bird species are threatened with extinction than ever before. The Wild Birds! Revolution aims to publish the “Top 25 Wild Bird Photographs of the Week” to 1 million people every week by the end of the year. That is a revolution that will change the world! Join thousands of other weekend naturalists, photographers, birders, experts, hikers, nature-lovers, guides, scientists, conservationists and artists that share the thousands of wild bird photographs submitted to the Wild Bird Trust website and Facebook page. Thousands of wild bird enthusiasts are going out every day to photograph our planet’s beautiful birdlife. Pick up your camera, fill your bird feeder, open your heart, and join the Wild Birds! Revolution!!

Edited by Abigail Ramudzuli, Campaign Manager