By Susan Milius
Color evolution among grackles and their kin is not about males showing off their fine feathers. It’s more about females switching their looks, a new analysis indicates.
Among 37 species of grackles, blackbirds and other icterid relatives, males clearly do flash more diverse feather colors than females do, says Jordan Price of St. Mary’s College of Maryland. Bright epaulets on glossy black plumage or shimmering iridescence often give distinctive looks to males. Females, however, just look either generically drab or similar to males.