Uploaded March 2026 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
Surprise! Our #PictureOfTheWeek is actually an adorable video of a zebra finch building a nest with its favorite color.
These little songbirds from the Australian Outback were found to have strong color preferences. If they really loved pink, they would build their nest in that color even if the rest of the colony was building orange nests. So if you have strong feelings about your home decor colors, you’re not alone.
Ecologist Lauren Guillette from the University of Alberta has been studying zebra finches for over a decade and sat down with us to discuss why strong opinions matter, even in birds. Listen to the entire conversation on our podcast.
Bonus fact: Zebra finches see colors better than humans. People are trichromats, but birds are tetrachromats. So they can see ultraviolet in addition to the blue, green, and red that we can see.
Video and photo credit: Animal Cognition Research Group
1: Video of male zebra finch putting pink string into its typical dome-shaped nest.
2: A male zebra finch places an orange string into an orange nest with a female zebra finch arranging materials inside the nest.
3: A female (left) and male (right) zebra finch perched together.
Surprise! Our #PictureOfTheWeek is actually an adorable video of a zebra finch building a nest with its favorite color.
These little songbirds from the Australian Outback were found to have strong color preferences. If they really loved pink, they would build their nest in that color even if the rest of the colony was building orange nests. So if you have strong feelings about your home decor colors, you’re not alone.
Ecologist Lauren Guillette from the University of Alberta has been studying zebra finches for over a decade and sat down with us to discuss why strong opinions matter, even in birds. Listen to the entire conversation on our podcast.
Bonus fact: Zebra finches see colors better than humans. People are trichromats, but birds are tetrachromats. So they can see ultraviolet in addition to the blue, green, and red that we can see.
Video and photo credit: Animal Cognition Research Group
1: Video of male zebra finch putting pink string into its typical dome-shaped nest.
2: A male zebra finch places an orange string into an orange nest with a female zebra finch arranging materials inside the nest.
3: A female (left) and male (right) zebra finch perched together.
