Ardea
Official journal of the Netherlands Ornithologists' Union

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Santos S.I.C.O., Lumeij J.T., Westers P. & van Wandelen B.B.I. (2007) Sexual dichromatism in the European Magpie Pica pica. Not as black and white as expected. ARDEA 95 (2): 299-310
Reflectance spectrometry, in the avian visible range, is currently a standard methodological approach for plumage colour assessment in birds. However, the method generally employed, whereby only one observation and illumination angle is used, can fail to reveal important colour characteristics. This study shows how the sexual dichromatism of the European Magpie Pica pica can be overlooked by the use of single angle, rather than multiple angle, spectrometry and stresses the need to adopt more refined methods for plumage colour assessment. The results of this study may not only have implications in avian colour classification but also in many related fields of biology.


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