Owls; the ultimate night riders

I've been meaning to do a post on owls for some time now, but always felt that I didn't have enough decent photos to make it worth while. At this stage I'm probably not going to be able to improve on that any time soon, so rather than go on ignoring these wonderful birds I'll go with what I've got, rely on the owls to carry it, and hope you'll be tolerant!

Australian Boobook Ninox boobook, Nowra, NSW south coast. This roosting bird shows
the basic owl characteristics including very large eyes which can function at incredibly
low light levels, powerful bill, legs and claws, and feathered legs. All owls are carnivorous. 
The body and wing feathers are very soft and fringed to allow almost totally silent flight.
The fourth toe is very flexible, and can either face back (for a two forward/two back setup),
or forward (for three-forward/one back). You'll see both options in the photos which follow.
(There has been a lot of good work done recently on the complex of boobook species which
are found from eastern Asia, through the numerous islands north of Australia to
Australia itself and New Zealand.
Until recently it was called Southern Boobook N. novaeseelandiae, but the English name was
changed when previously included populations from the Lesser Sundas (including Timor),
Tasmania and New Zealand were all recognised as different species.)

One of the key things about owls is that they are, of course, mostly nocturnal (there are a few diurnal ones, but we can generalise to start with). This means that you either have to photograph them at night, while not hurting or scaring them with flashes, or find them in the daytime, when they're almost certainly going to be tucked away in foliage, away from the daytime birds which will harry them mercilessly if they can. Other people manage perfectly well of course, part of which might be due to better equipment, but mostly just better skills! A spinoff of this is that, while I can usually offer you photos of aspects of bird behaviour, pretty well all my owl photos show them roosting or staring down from a branch, and in a photo those two things look pretty similar I must admit!

The owls are a very successful group of hunting birds, with some 250 species found throughout the vegetated continents and they have occupied every habitat from the Arctic to the tropical rainforests. They are also an old group, with the oldest known fossil owl dating back 60 million years from a site in Wyoming. Owls comprise their own Order, with no obvious close relatives, though perhaps the daytime birds of prey (hawks etc) might be the closest. Within the Order there are two Families, the barn owls and the 'typical' or hawk owls, but the latter group totally dominates, with some 230 species to the barn owls' combined 20 or so. In Australia however the 10 breeding species are split evenly between the two Families.

Eastern Barn Owl Tyto javanica, Alice Springs. This is a 'rescue' owl at the excellent
Alice Springs Desert Park, free-flying but unable to be released. While it has the general
owl characteristics described above (here two toes forward and two back)
there are some obvious differences. The iris is dark, while in the majority of typical owls it is
pale, often yellow (the observation holds for all Australian species).
There is an obvious heart-shaped facial disc, fringed with stiff feathers, 
which acts as an external 'ear' to direct sound to the ear openings, hidden by the feathers.
(Other owls also have such a disc, but in most cases it is not as well developed as the barn owls' are.)
Not so obvious here is its lighter build and longer legs, or the difference in calls.
While typical owls in general have a call which is a variation on hooting,
barn owls have a rasping shriek or hiss.
(As with the boobook group discussed earlier, there have been major recent advances in
understanding barn owls relationships too. Until recently there was just one
Barn Owl Tyto alba recognised throughout the world, but now there are three.
'Ours' is found from Australia to southern Asia, while another is in Europe and
much of Africa, and the third in the Americas.)

Another very important owl characteristic isn't really shown in these photos either, and can only be properly seen from front-on.

American Barn Owl Tyto furcata Santa Cruz, Galápagos. This bird was roosting
in a rock crevice, trees being scarce commodities in most of the Galápagos.
Unlike nearly all other birds, its eyes are in the front of its face, enabling it
to have binocular vision; in most birds the eyes are on the sides of its
head, so the only way it can have the sort of 3D vision than an owl (and we)
regard as normal, is to turn the head from side to side.
This Sulphur-crested Cockatoo exemplifies the contrast.

I have sometimes wondered if owls are often described as 'wise' because we share this facial characteristic with them; ie they look a bit like us so must be wise! I wouldn't put any arrogance past us...

A couple more observations on barn owls and their differences from the 'main' owl Family, before a bit more on what makes owls so special, then going on to focus on the hooting majority. I'm very confident that the pale undersides of the Western Barn Owl (Tyto alba), its hair-raising screeches, silent flight and habit of roosting in church towers in Europe are the basis of many ghost stories. Members of the barn owl Family usually roost by day in hollows (presumably buildings were used by the Western Barn Owl when hollows were no longer available), whereas other owls make themselves as inconspicuous as possible within or behind foliage. Barn owls often don't defend a territory at all, and when they do it is usually by silent display. 'Typical' owls do so fiercely, and proclaim ownership with long hooting sessions.

Owls in general have other adaptations too that are of interest. For instance an owl can spread the bones of the lower mandible outwards, to extend the gape and enable large prey items to be swallowed whole. Like most carnivorous birds they regurgitate pellets of indigestible bones, feathers, fur and scales (which are invaluable in determining their diet).

Pellet from a Powerful Owl Ninox strenua which became a celebrity when it lived
in the Australian National Botanic Gardens in Canberra for a few weeks in autumn 2007.
It left when it had exhausted the supply of Ringtail Possums and Sugar Gliders;
this pellet is clearly composed of fur and bones.

Owls have never evolved echolocation to help them hunt at night, so have remarkable vision, with very large eyes relative to their skull size. This leaves little room for muscles to move the eyes, so they have developed extremely flexible necks, with twice as many neck vertebrae as we do, and special adaptations to prevent blood flow from being constricted when they swivel their head through about 270 degrees. In addition to the overall size of the eyes, they have a very large maximum pupil size, to enhance light gathering when there isn't much of it. They also have a preponderance of rod cells over cone cells in the retina; rod cells are much more light sensitive, while cone cells are good at colour vision. Hence an owl can see well at low light levels, at the expense of distinguishing colour.

The very large eyes of this Tropical Screech Owl Megascops choliba are evident.
We were actually sitting patiently waiting for an Ocelot (that never appeared for the
two nights we were there) at a bait station in the Pantanal of south-western Brazil,
but this was a nice compensation. (The lighting allegedly doesn't bother the Ocelot,
but we saw no evidence of that! Luckily it didn't seem to faze the owl either.)
The screech owls form a group of some 23 species found throughout much of the
Americas; this species is found widely in South America.

Some of the most impressive owl adaptations however are in their hearing, and many cases they are known to swoop and catch prey that they can't see at all. In an experimental situation Western Barn Owls could catch mice in a totally darkened room by homing in on the rustle of their feet on the floor. Even in light, other owls can grab unseen mice from grass clumps or under snow. They hear roughly the same range of frequencies that we do, but hear ten times as well in the frequencies that correspond to rustling noises in grass or leaves. Their ear openings, like their eyes, are unusually large and are covered loosely by special feathers which don't interfere much with sound. The facial disc, which we mentioned earlier as being especially well-developed in barn owls, is another important factor in gathering and focusing sound. 

This Short-eared Owl Asio flammeus is not a barn owl, but has a facial disc which is
equally well developed. This beauty was perched by the roadside near Lake Titicaca in the
high, cold mountains in the far south-east of Peru late one afternoon. That would have been
enough for us, but our very experienced local guides had never seen one in this part of the world.
The nearest it comes to here normally is on the north coast of Peru, and that rarely.
This medium-large owl hunts mostly by night, but also is regularly active in the daytime
and evening, concentrating on small mammals. It is found right across the Northern
Hemisphere and the southern half of South America, making it not only the most
widely-distributed owl in the world, but is arguably the most widespread of any land bird

 

As an another example of that last comment, here is a Short-eared Owl of the Gálapagos
sub-species, roosting in a chasm on Genovesa, in the Pacific 1000km from South America.
Note that because this one isn't gripping a perch, it's spread its toes widely.

But back to owls' superpowers. One way owls use their hypersensitive hearing is to turn the head until the sound reaching each ear is at exactly the same volume - which of course occurs when the object/prey is exactly in front of the owl. But there's a second, even more amazing, mechanism in play too. If the source of a sound is off to the right, it not only sounds marginally louder on that side but arrives at the right ear fractionally sooner than it gets to the left. By turning the head again until the sound reaches both ears simultaneously, again the owl knows that the prey is now right in front. But, even without moving its head (which could alert the prey) it can locate the prey precisely within a 60 degree arc. And to achieve all this, the owl can distinguish a time difference between one ear and the other of just 30 millionths of a second! My brain threatens to shut down when I try to process that information.

In Australia all owl species nest in tree hollows, except the generally uncommon Eastern Grass Owl Tyto longimembris (which nests on the  ground). Elsewhere however there are owls which breed on cliffs or in old bird nests, and hardly any of them bother even to line the nest site. 

 

One of my favourite owls, the little Burrowing Owl Athene cunicularia, actually nests underground, mostly in burrows provided by rodents or badgers - or at least that's what most of the information says. On looking into it however I've realised that this mostly refers to North America and ignores the fact that probably more Burrowing Owls live in South America. (North Amercan bias, surely not?😀) On going through my South American field guides, I discover that in fact most South American Burrowing Owls dig their own, which makes sense as burrowing mammals such as ground squirrels and badgers are absent there; skunk burrows might be the best bet for South America owls, but they're not abundant.

Young Burrowing Owls at the mouth of their burrow, Sipan archaeological site,
north-western Peru.

Adult Burrowing Owl in the same arid area. One of my favourite Burrowing Owl
stories is their habit of collecting dried mammal dung and leaving it near the
burrow to attract edible dung beetles! Tool use, surely?

As you'll have already noticed, most owl plumage is subtly (and beautifully) mottled and camouflaged, presumably to reduce the degree of daytime harassment by mobbing birds. Chicks however begin life with very fine down feathers for the first week or so, which is replaced by a thicker down called a mesoptile through which full feathers eventually grow.

Crested Owls Lophostrix cristata, Tortuguero, east coast of Costa Rica. The chick is still
wearing its mesoptile down. This handsome owl can be 40cm tall (female owls are bigger
than the males) and is found in tropical rainforests in South and Central America. Quite a few
owls have these 'ears', which have nothing to do with hearing, and everything to do with display.
This distinctive owl is the only member of its genus.

Here is a slightly better portrait of a pair of this lovely owl at
Sacha Lodge in the Ecuadorian Amazon

I thinks that's about enough of facts and figures. For the rest I'm just going to introduce a small range of owls from four continents, and see what stories might arise. I'll start with a few Australian species, noting that my photo coverage of them is woefully inadequate.

Australian Boobook at a cave entrance, Undara Lava Tubes NP, north Queensland.
Owls lurk around the tubes waiting for bats to emerge at dusk. This subspecies,
which is found across the western two thirds of Australia, is paler and redder
than the south-eastern subspecies in the first photo of this post. I can't
explain which this one's eyes look dark rather than the expected yellow.

Here is the celebrity Powerful Owl Ninox strenua in the National Botanic Gardens in
Canberra in 2007 that I mentioned earlier. The largest of the boobook group of owls
(and the largest Australian owl) it stands an imposing 60cm high, and is found in tall
forests along the south-east coast and hinterlands of Australia. However it is reasonably
comfortable in suburbia too and in Sydney is known to prey on big fruit bats which form
colonies there, and regularly on stray cats. Otherwise its regularly takes prey as big as
Ring-tailed Possums and Greater Gliders, Pied Currawongs, cockatoos and even lyrebirds.
I first heard its deep slow resonant 'whoo whoo' decades ago bouncing off the cliffs at night
in Gariwerd (Grampians) National Park in western Victoria, and have never forgotten it.

Rufous Owl Ninox rufa, Atherton Tableland, north Queensland. Another big owl, not
much smaller than the Powerful Owl. This one is solely tropical, found scattered across
northern Australia and New Guinea. It has a similar diet to the Powerful. A well-known
pair roosts in the Darwin Botanic Gardens, but I've never had the pleasure.

Barking Owl Ninox connivens near Townsville, north Queensland. I really did hesitate
before posting this awful photo (a scan of an old slide) but in this case I decided that it
was (just) better than nothing. Bigger than a Boobook, this is a woodland owl
found across virtually the whole continent, especially in woodlands and open
forests. Its call really be mistaken for a barking dog, especially when a pair
is duetting.

Tawny-bellied Screech Owl Megascops watsonii, Amazonia Lodge,
near Cusco in southern Peru. Like the Tropical Screech Owl we met earlier
(and all others in the genus) this one has prominent ear tufts. Note how it's
just opened its left eye a slit, to keep track of me.

A familiar group of owls to anyone who's birded in South and Central America is the pygmy owl genus Glaucidium. They are mostly active in the daytime and guides regularly use their call to attract other small birds which mob them. However while the Americas are their stronghold, there are also members of the genus in North America, Asia, Europe and Africa. Here are four species of pygmy owl, three from the Americas but also an African one.

Austral Pygmy Owl G. nana, from the icy Patagonian southern cone of South America,
here alongside Perito Merino Glacier in Argentina. The largest female weighs barely
100g, but they have been recorded taking birds as large as 160g, though insects
form a large part of the diet.

Ferruginous Pygmy Owl G. brasilianum, Chapada dos Guimarães, south-western Brazil.
(Despite its scientific name, it is found widely in South and Central America).
They mostly feed on insects but like the other pygmy owls they are feisty hunters
who are undeterred by the size of a potential lunch.

The same bird as above, with the back of its head facing us. These 'false eyes' are
characteristic of several pygmy owls, presumably to make the mobs of small birds
think they're always under observation, though it doesn't seem to deter them.
Below is closer view of a pair of these pretty little owls, this time from the Pantanal
in south-western Brazil.

Pacific Pygmy Owl N. peruanum, Olmos area, central northern Peru.
It is found along the dry Pacific coast from Ecuador to the northern tip of Chile, and is
the only pygmy owl found in the lowlands west of the Andes. Until fairly recently this pygmy
owl was lumped in with the Ferruginous Pygmy Owl, but their calls are very different.

Pearl-spotted Owlet G. perlatum, Tangarire NP, Tanzania. This is one of four
African pygmy owls, except that they're called owlets there. It's a fairly familiar
little owl, found very widely across sub-Saharan Africa; even I've seen it in four
different countries. Like its neotropical relatives it is often active by day.

The scops owls form a big genus (some 60 species, the largest owl genus) of Old World owls, mostly Asian though a few are found in Africa and Europe as well. Until fairly recently the American screech owls were also included, though that is now agreed to have been erroneous, especially with regard to their calls. Like screech owls they are medium small owls with prominent ear tufts. They are mostly quite nocturnal.

African Scops Owl Otus senegalensis, Tarangire NP, Tanzania. Like many
owls, scops owls have lovely camouflage. This one mostly eats invertebrates.
(Sorry about the stick!)

Madagascan (or Rainforest) Scops Owl Otus rutilus, Ankarana NP, Madagascar.
It is widespread on the island, but not a lot seems to be known about it.

This lurking behaviour is typical of owls which are totally nocturnal (or nearly so). As I've mentioned before they are fiercely attacked by large numbers of daytime birds of many species, which respond to the calls of others to join in the mob.

Buffy Fish Owl Ketupa ketupu, Kinabatangan River, Sabah, Malaysian Borneo.
Both scientific names are based on a Javanese name for this species. It is one
of half a dozen large owl species in Asia and Africa which are primarily fish-eaters.
This one may swoop from a perch to take fish from the surface,
or stand by the water, or even wade into it.

Until recently this was included in the genus Bubo, but it turns out that this was also a false grouping. Bubo still exists, as a genus of 10 species of horned owls (in the Americas) and eagle-owls (in Eurasia and Africa). These are seriously big owls, some of them considerably larger than our Powerful Owl! The Eurasian Eagle-Owl Bubo bubo can stand 75cm tall and weigh up to 4.5kg.

McKinder's Eagle-Owl, a subspecies of Cape Eagle-Owl Bubo capensis, central Kenya.
(Be kind, it took me some time to get an angle that showed even part of its face!) It was hidden
in a fig against a cliff face; the species is strongly associated with rocky areas across southern
Africa and in scattered populations in east Africa.

Our guide in this instance was an impressive young local man who's dedicated his life to studying owls - he'd been following this individual for seven years - and working with local communities, educating and advocating against the traditional persecution of owls, a serious problem all over the world.

Great Horned Owl Bubo virginianus, El Cajas NP, 4000 metres above sea level in
southern Ecuador. This huge owl is found throughout North America and much of
northern and eastern South America. We found this one by chance, sitting quietly
as one of our party poked about in a thicket. (Thanks Steve!)

Stygian Owl Asio stygius, Morro del Calzada Reserve, northern Peru.
A pair of these very imposing dark, brooding owls was roosting in the open
in this little forested montane reserve. They are scattered in central and South America
and the Caribbean, with a large range centred on southern Brazil. Despite being
large and widespread it seems that not a lot is known about them.
It is in the same genus as the Short-eared Owl that we met previously.

Spectacled Owl Pulsatrix perspicillata, Pantanal, south-western Brazil.
This large solitary owl is found in lowlands in Central America and throughout the
north-eastern half of South America. It has a wide range of habitats;
this one was in open woodland and grassland, and the only other one
that I've seen was in the Amazon rainforest in Ecuador.
The genus is a small solely Neotropical one.

The final genus in this little owl discovery tour is one familiar to Europeans and North Americans - think of the Tawny Owl and Barred and Great Grey Owls respectively. However, as is often the case, my offerings are South American, and there's a twist...

Mottled Owl Strix virgata, in a hotel garden in San José, Costa Rica.
This pair were tucked away in a massive stand of bamboos that must have
been over ten metres high. Another one that is found widely in Central and
northern South America, often around humans. It's mostly a perch-and-pounce hunter.

Black and White Owl Strix nigrolineata, Caño Negro, northern Costa Rica.
Another medium-sized owl from Central America and the far north-west of
South America. I find this one particularly striking.

And that brings us to a bird that belongs to a short list of birds that I most treasure having seen.

This owl was at San Isidro lodge on the eastern side of the northern Ecuadorian Andes,
at 2000 metres above sea level, and is only known from the vicinity of San Isidro.
It looks very like the Black and White Owl, and also like the closely related
Black-banded Owl (Strix huhula - how I love that name!) from the lowland rainforests
to the east. However the Black and White is only known from the western slopes of the Andes, and
the Black-banded is rarely found higher than 500 metres, and never above 1500.

In plumage and, reportedly, in voice, it seems midway between both those species. Indeed the general approach to it is to tentatively regard it as an isolated sub-species of Black-banded, though it seems to me there is little basis for that. It is widely known in birding circles as the 'mystery owl'. Obviously we need DNA (without the traditional method of obtaining it, of course!). Perhaps feathers from under a roost or eggs that have hatched would do? Of course that's easier said than done, though I'm surprised that no-one has succeeded yet - there are some brilliant bird guides in that part of the world. My bet would be on it being a new species, but it seems we must be patient for a while yet! Meanwhile I love the story and am very fortunate to have seen the bird.

Well it's been a long post, and one that I've been meaning to do for some years. If you've read this far, my thanks for doing so, and I hope it means that you're as fascinated by owls as I am. I hope too that I've been able to add something small to your knowledge and enjoyment of them.

NEXT POSTING THURSDAY 19 SEPTEMBER

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Blue Beasts of Happiness #3; anything but feathers!

For the last two postings (starting here) I've introduced some blue birds (including one bluebird) which I hope brought you some happiness in these challenging times. Well they brought some to me, so in the absence of any suggestions to the contrary I'm going to assume that it's worth concluding this bluey series with a post on other animal groups and other blue parts of birds apart from feathers. Like 'blue' feathers virtually of these other blue animals achieve their blueness not by blue pigments, but by some very clever physical properties at the nanoparticle level. (And no I don't really understand the intricacies of it either, but there's plenty more information on that out in webland.) The essence however is that layers of cells (or tiny bubbles in the feathers) are arranged precisely so that blue light only is reflected, and often reinforced to make the effect even stronger. 

However I'm going to start today with a couple of very special examples indeed of blue animals. As I've stressed, there are no known blue pigments in any birds, or in almost any other animals either. But not quite...  Here are two animals from very different groups which, shockingly after all I've said, do have blue chemicals to colour themselves.

Blue Triangle Graphium sarpedo Currarong, south coast New South Wales.
This is one of a very small handful of butterflies worldwide which contains the pigment pterobilin;
a very few others contain blue phorcabilins and sarpedobilins, but that's about it.
All other blue butterflies - and we'll meet some below - just play with physics and our eyes.

Bluebottle, or Portuguese Man o' War, Physalia physalis, beached on the south coast
of New South Wales. They drift on the ocean surface, their float at the mercy of
the winds and currents. Here the mercy gave out and this one died on the beach. Its stinging
tentacles must still be avoided at all costs though! However you're seeing it now
because, like some other marine organisms, it too has genuine blue pigment, in this case
complex combinations of carotenoids (common plant-derived pigments which
many birds, for instance, appropriate to produce red and yellow feathers) with proteins.

And these pale blue crabs may or may not fit this category; some crabs do have blue pigments, and these Soldier Crabs could well do so too.

 

Soldier Crabs Mictyris longicarpus, south coast New South Wales.

For the rest however we're back to familiar theme of cleverly reflected light. We started with a butterfly so let's meet some others; there are many blue (or part-blue) butterflies and moths to choose from, all of which use precisely aligned two-layered scales which together reflect and reinforce blue light.

 

Maybe I could have shown fewer butterflies, but you can't really have too many, can you? And I'm sorry that I can't identify all of them - as ever any help will be appreciated.

 

Blue Pansy Junonia oenone Peyeria, Madagascar.

Unidentified nocturnal moth drawn to the lights of the Tambopata Research Centre,
southern Peruvian Amazonia.

Sucking water from the sand by the Rio Madre de Dios, southern Peru.

At Amazonia Lodge, Manu Biosphere Area, southern Peru.

At Huembo Lodge, north-eastern Andes, Peru.

Brilliant Blue Junonia rhadama Lac Alarobia, Tananarive, Madagascar.

 Blue-banded Eggfly Hypolimnas alimena Cairns Botanic Gardens.

Shining Oak-blue Arhopala micale Cairns Botanic Gardens.

Rajah Brooke Birdwing Trogonoptera brookiana Mount Kinabalu NP, Sabah,
Malaysian Borneo. This magnificent creature is even more spectacular than
it looks from this angle.

Satin-green Forester Pollanisus viridipulverulenta Yeldulknie CP, Eyre Peninsula,
South Australia. This iridescent beauty can be blue or green, depending on the angle.
And iridescence is a topic I'll come back to one day.

Unidentified night moth that came to the lights of Owlet Lodge,
north-eastern Peruvian Andes. I think this one's extraordinary.

Turquoise Emperor Doxocopa laurentia Iguaçu Falls, Brazil.

Blue Tiger Tirumala hamata Bundjalung NP, north coast NSW.

Staying with insects, butterflies and moths aren't the only ones with blue wings, though others (including some dragonflies) tend more towards flashes of blue iridescence, rather than permanent blue.

Carpenter Bee Xlyocopa sp. Gomantong Caves, Sabah, Malaysian Borneo.

This dragonfly however, west of Sepilok in Sabah, seems to have solid scales on part of the wings.

In the case of blue in insect bodies, the mechanism seems mostly to involve particles suspended in a waxy layer within the cuticle, above a melanin-darkened background, to reflect and intensify blue light. I have no reason to suppose that any of the blues of the insects that follow don't derive this way, but I don't suppose many of them have been specifically studied either.

Blue Ant Diamma bicolor Orroral Valley, Namadgi National Park, near Canberra.
Despite the name this is a spectacular wingless wasp (which apparently has a
formidable sting). From the shine, this might be a case of iridescence too.

Mountain Grasshopper Acripeza reticulata, Namadgi National Park.
If disturbed she raises her wing covers to expose the dramatic blue and red abdomen;
she wasn't sufficiently worried about me however.

Unidentified grasshopper (by me anyway), Peyeris, Madagascar.

Blue Ringtails (damselflies) Austrolestes annulosus Canberra.

 

 

 

 

Grasshopper, Mt Kupé, Cameroon. I like the blue side bar; I also thought
it was fairly likely you've not seen this one, given where it was.

 

 

Tropical Rockmaster Diphlebia euphoeoides, north Queensland.

Frog skin colours are very complex, with often three layers of different cells in the skin. In the case of blues, iridophores sit above melanin-filled melanophores and reflect blue light back.

Ecuadorian Poison Dart Frog Ameerega bilinguis, Sacha Lodge, Amazonian Ecuador.
Fortunately I'm not likely to be putting anyone at risk by attempting to emulate this local guide, who
seems to have developed a resitance to the potentially lethal toxins carried by the frog.
You're not likely to encounter the frog without such a guide to warn you off.

Reptile scales can have similar structures.

Skink, Manglares Churute NP, Ecuador.
Presumably the blue tail is to attract attention of predators, who are
then left with the tail, but no skink. It's one of the most beautiful
skinks I've ever seen.

In lizards, especially dragons (agamids) where males display with bright colours in mating season, the blues can often be switched on and off by contracting the melanin cells below the light-scattering layers.

 

Kenyan Rock Agama Agama lionotusm, Tarangire NP, Tanzania.

Blue-headed Tree Agama Acanthocercus atricollis, Queen Elizabeth NP Uganda.

Australian Water Dragon Intellagama lesueurii, National Botanic Gardens, Canberra.
The large population of these impressive lizards, quite habituated to people, is
a feature of these magnificent gardens.

And I can find no information on how a creature produces a blue tongue, but I imagine the layer priniciple applies here too.

Eastern Blue-tongued Lizard Tiliqua scincoides, Kakadu NP, Northern Territory.
The bluetongue group comprises the world's largest skinks; the blue tongue is part
of a threat display which, unfortunately for them, relies entirely on bluff.

There are very few examples of true blue in mammals. Among them the face and buttocks of male Mandrills are well-known (though other colours complement them), as are the testicle of Vervet Monkeys Chlorocebus pygerythrus. Sorry to lower the tone, though they are very striking...

Male Vervet Monkey, Serengeti NP, Tanzania. This common ground-feeding
monkey is found throughout east Africa from the Horn to the bottom of South Africa.

Blue skin in mammals follows a now-familiar theme, though the structure comprises an array of collagen fibres over a melanin layer.

Which brings us back to birds, in which bare blue skin is not as uncommon as you might reasonably imagine. Here the collagen fibre layers also are the basis of it, though it must have evolved quite separately from the same system in mammals. A perhaps surprising number of birds display an attractive ring of bare skin around the eye. Here is a selection from a wide array of families (meaning they developed it independently of each other, as well as of mammals) and three continents.

Blue-faced Honeyeater Entomyzon cyanotis preening, Griffith, NSW.

Channel-billed Toucan Ramphastos vitellinus Chapada dos Guimarães, Brazil.

Yellow-throated Toucan Ramphastos ambiguus Wild Sumaco Lodge, north-eastern Andes, Ecuador

Chabet Vanga Leptopterus chabert Itafy, Madagascar.

Hoatzin Opisthocomus hoazin, Manu Bioshere Reserve, Peruvian Amazonia.
This is truly one of the most extraordinary birds in the world, which has had
no close relatives for at least 64 million years - about the time the non-bird
dinosaurs unwillingly left the stage.

Little Corella Cacatua sanguinea, Mutawintji NP, western NSW.

Madagascan Paradise Flycatcher Terpsiphone mutata Ankarana NP, Madagascar.

A few bird species have actual blue eyes, whose blueness is (like mine) due to particles suspended in fluid.

Crested Orependola Psarocolius decumanus Sacha Lodge, Ecuador.
These magnificent birds are large tropical members of the North American
blackbird family.

Blue bills, feet and extensive area of skin are all due to the layered collagen structure, and can be quite dramatic.

Blue-billed Duck Oxyura australis, Canberra. Only the males have this impressive adornment.
    

Dusky Woodswallow Artamus cyanopterus, Canberra.
This blue bill is not such a striking feature, but worth looking for.

Double-barred Finches Stizoptera bichenovii, Darwin.
Another bird which doesn't flaunt its little blue bill, but it's an attractive accoutrement.

Blue-footed Booby Sula nebouxii, Puerto Ayoras, Galápagos.
Surely one of the most admired bird appendages in the world; they really are amazingly blue.

 

But I'm going to end with an Australian bird, the mighty Southern Cassowary Casuarius casuarius. Only a tropical bird, and a large one (which doesn't lose as much heat as a smaller one) could afford to dispense with all of its head and neck feathers in order to flaunt a truly dramatic colour display.

Southern Cassowary, Mount Hypipamee National Park, north Queensland.
It's not easy to get a clear photo in its rainforest home but I think this
does justice to its featherless finery.

Well that will do us for blue creatures for a while. I hope it's give you something to smile at, and perhaps ponder over. Keep your eyes out for nature's wonderful blues.

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