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()