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Bird Color Palettes (made with 100% REAL birds!)

birdcolors is a palette generator to spice up your scientific plots (and maybe your life) using the diversity of colors observed across the birds of the world.

Cite us: Tonelli, B.A., Youngflesh, C. (2026) birdcolors: Create Palettes from the Colors of the World’s Birds. R package version 1.0.1

Install

devtools::install_github("bentonelli/birdcolors")

Basic Use

See what birds are being recommended today

library(birdcolors)
library(ggplot2)

#Get recommended birds - visually appealing and colorblind friendly!
bird_menu("rec")

##                bird_names ncols recommended
## 5          Cassin_s_Finch     2  Continuous
## 42   Ultramarine_Lorikeet     5  Continuous
## 43 Hildebrandt_s_Starling     5  Continuous
## 37  Lilac_breasted_Roller     5    Discrete
## 47     European_Goldfinch     6    Discrete
## 51          Scarlet_Macaw     7    Discrete
## 15    Costa_s_Hummingbird     3   Divergent
## 17         Lovely_Sunbird     3   Divergent
## 44             Bluethroat     5   Divergent

#For all available birds, use: bird_menu("all")

Visualize these recommended palettes

bird_palette_visualizer(all_or_rec = "rec",pdf_plot = FALSE)

Plotting discrete colors with base R

# Base R

#Use the bird colors function to load in your favorite bird's colors.
outp <- bird_colors("Scarlet Macaw")


xx <- (1:7)
yy <- (1:7)
zz <- (1:7)

plot(xx,yy,col=outp[zz],pch=19,cex=2)

Plotting with ggplot

# ggplot2
bird_cols <- bird_colors("Lovely Sunbird",reverse=TRUE)

xx <- rnorm(1000,0,1)
yy <- rnorm(1000,0,1)
zz <- xx

ggplot() +
  geom_point(aes(x = xx,y=yy,col=zz),pch=19,cex=2) +
  scale_color_bird(bird_cols,midpoint=0) +
  theme_classic()

These binaries (installable software) and packages are in development.
They may not be fully stable and should be used with caution. We make no claims about them.
Health stats visible at Monitor.