There are a few common myths regarding animals and what colors they like or hate. For example, the famous myth is that bulls hate the color red, but the truth is they are high temper animals, and they can get angry about any sudden movement or sound they can detect, not precisely color red.
And in the bulls fighting shows, they use the red blankets they wave in front of the bulls just to hide the blood when bulls get injured and bleed out later during the show. So, the wave itself is what makes the bull attack, not the color red, and because of these brutal shows, people believed that bulls hate the color red.
So, Do Parrots Hate Certain Colors?
Yes, most parrots might hate certain colors like red and oranges. This is because parrots fall low in the food chain, so they might relate these colors with exposure to predators in the wild. However, not all parrots will develop the same hatred toward any color, unless they have had an awful experience with it in the past.
And the opposite can also happen and they can have a positive experience of certain color leading them to like it.
The hatred toward colors for the sake of danger happens mostly with relatively smaller breeds of parrots, like budgies, Quakers, and conures. I noticed that with the parrots that I raised during the past 18 years, currently I only have a couple of African greys and cockatoos, and they are alright with colors, even with red.
I have raised Quakers, budgies, conures, cockatiels, and other smaller breeds. I noticed they hate certain colors, especially those that fall under the red spectrum. The hatred can reflect in two ways, the parrot may feel afraid and try to avoid interaction with red objects, or he will attack these objects. Whether they were toys, food, or even the owner when he wears red clothes or any other color they hate.
Why Do Parrots Hate Red or any other Color?
There are 2 answers to this question, and yes, some parrots will show hatred toward some colors like red or orange, especially the smaller breeds of parrots. The first reason for that is because this color resembles a danger that can happen to them in the wild, predators, or another male from the same breed that will compete with it for mating.
Avian behaviorist Chris Davis suggests that it’s more likely because of the danger the colors from the red spectrum signify. The other reason is an awful experience that happened to the parrot that is related to the red color or any other color.
If you find a bird that hates another color, like white or green, then it’s probably because of a terrible experience he went through. For example, he was being abused by a previous owner who wears a certain color. Or he was afraid of another pet like a black cat, that was trying to prey on him, and so on.
What Colors Do Parrots Like?
There is no accurate answer to this question. I mean, every parrot has its own preferences, and you can’t know what is the favorite color for each bird or parrot. In case you are the owner, you may determine what colors attract your parrot the most. Toys and colorful foods can help with that. The bird may like the color of his favorite toy, treat, or cage.
Blue, white, and pink are colors that can comfort and give your parrot a relaxation breeze. Again, it’s not correct, and every parrot has its own preferences. But parrots won’t like or maybe hate any color that falls under the red spectrum, like orange or pink. Yellow and gold seem to irritate parrots as well.
What Colors Do Parrots See?
We, as humans, are trichromats, meaning that we can see 3 colors: blue, green, and red. Cats and dogs are dichromats. They can only see 2 colors, Blue and green, Red is out of the table for them. But parrots, they got a superpower, seeing more colors, I mean they can say Blue, green, and red, just as we do. They can see UV lights. Which makes them tetrachromats, they can see 4 colors.
However, most breeds of parrots can see UV light. And they use it in the wild primarily to find a mate and look for food. They can tell the female and male apart using UV colors. and for us people, we can not tell the male from the female in parrots, at least in most cases, because we can’t see UV colors.
What is UV Vision?
The UV lights are a spectrum of colors that the naked human eye cannot detect. As mentioned above, humans can detect only the colors that fall under the green, blue, and red spectrums. No UltraViolet for us.
Ultraviolet radiation lays between visible light and X-rays along the electromagnetic spectrum.
UV “light” spans a range of wavelengths between about 10 and 400 nanometers.
The wavelength of violet light is around 400 nanometers (or 4,000 Å).
And here is this video showing how parrots use UV colors to see and sometimes interact with each other.
Conclusion
in conclusion, parrots from every size and every breed can hate a certain color because of a rough experience that happened to them earlier in their lives.
You can make them stop hating the color in this case by trying to tell them that this color is positive. You can gradually paint their favorite toys with that color, drop by drop, dot by dot. Or you can give a delicious treat of a color they hate red peppers, for example.
Sometimes, a color could remind the parrot of a dangerous and scary experience, and the possibility to help the parrot realize that there is nothing dangerous related to the color is close to zero.
And in this case, there is nothing you can actually do. You can try the previous method to tell them this color is positive. They may respond positively, or they may hate the color more and more. In the end, it’s up to them to decide.
Hello, my name is sadeq and I am obsessed about parrot And I am here to share everything about raising pet parrots and how to be good owners to your bird.
