While some birds possess drab, plain-looking feathers, others sport brightly-colored feathers. Females typically appear less colorful than males, an adaptation that helps protect them from predators.

Wilson's bird of paradise also has two distinctive, sickle-shaped tail feathers. The bird is so elusive that it took scientists 150 years to document its courtship display, during which the male ...

Take, for example, the Resplendent Quetzal, a small, colorful bird native to the cloud forests of Mexico and Central America with tail feathers that can grow up to three feet long on males during ...

His red chest stood out against the lush greenery, and his long, flowing tail feathers—among the longest found in birds—moved gracefully in the breeze. The scene was unforgettable.

Probably the most famous case of this is the resplendent quetzal. This is a type of bird that lives in the neotropics of what is now Guatemala. Adult males grow two or three long, upper-tail, covert ...

It was a small bird, about the size of a bluejay, but its tail was more than 150% the length of its body. And the tail's length isn't the only unusual thing about it.

Shimmery. Spiky. Shaggy. Soft. Feathers are what make birds so alluring—but these photographs remind us that they also tell a story about the science of evolution.