Dear Green,
I wish I could help you here, but our flashy iridescence is a bird thing — yet another reason grackles are more fabulous than people! Male grackles’ multicolored sheen is due to a molecule called melanin, which humans have too. In matte female grackles, the melanin is densely packed into each feather barbule (the tiny strands of keratin that make up the feather). For iridescent male grackles, the melanin is arranged in ordered layers on the edges of each barbule. When light hits the different layers, it’s scattered into multiple wavelengths, producing the multicolored effect you see as we strut the parking lots. Good luck asking your human hairstylist to organize your hair’s melanin!
Yours,
Grackle
