# I just saw another vid about how rare the color blue is in nature, but

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-just-saw-another-vid-about-how-rare-the-color-blue-is-in-nature-but/955748>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [December 9, 2021, 4:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-just-saw-another-vid-about-how-rare-the-color-blue-is-in-nature-but/955748 "2021-12-09T04:03:01Z")\
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**Page:** 2

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**Author:** ![eburacum45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eburacum45/32/8690_2.png) [@eburacum45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eburacum45)\
**Post date:** [December 11, 2021, 4:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-just-saw-another-vid-about-how-rare-the-color-blue-is-in-nature-but/955748/21 "2021-12-11T16:54:13Z")

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Once again, most naturally-occuring blue colouration in birds and mammals is not caused by pigments, but is a structural colour, sometimes called Tyndall blue.

> **[Structural coloration](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Structural_coloration)**
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> Pages for logged out editors learn more
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> Structural coloration in animals, and a few plants, is the production of colour by microscopically structured surfaces fine enough to interfere with visible light instead of pigments, although some structural coloration occurs in combination with pigments. For example, peacock tail feathers are pigmented brown, but their microscopic structure makes them also reflect blue, turquoise, and green light, and they are often iridescent.
> Structural co...

Flowers, on the other hand, do use pigments, and to be honest blue flowers are quite common in my neck of the woods, especially in spring.

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