Similar to dogs or cats picking favorite toys, new research shows that zebra finch males apparently have a favorite color for nest construction.

Do Birds Have a Favorite Color?

Researchers at the University of Alberta, Canada, set out to investigate whether male zebra finches (Taeniopygia guttata) would show a preference for a specific color of nest-building material. They also wanted to determine whether they would stick with the same color under peer pressure or switch to the group’s majority.

Wild zebra finches are typically social birds and aren’t territorial, breeding and nesting close together in colonies in Australia. To test the males’ color preference, experimenters gave them two bundles of string: one yellow and one blue. The males were then scored on how much time they spent with each bundle.

“For instance, a male who spent 600 seconds interacting with yellow string and 400 seconds interacting with blue string would have an initial colour preference for yellow and would have a preference strength of 60%,” explain the authors in their paper.

Afterwards, the birds were moved to a different part of the experiment, which allowed them to see other pairs of finches in nests that were already built out of yellow or blue string. Though sometimes more nests were built out of the birds’ preferred color, other times more were built from the less liked color.

Experimenters then returned the finches to the original room, where they built their own nest out of yellow or blue string. This allowed the team to determine whether the initial color preference shown by the male bird had been influenced by the colors of the nests they’d seen.

Interestingly, the results showed that males who had a weaker preference initially were more likely to go with the majority and construct a nest with their less liked color. On the other hand, those who had strong initial preferences were less likely to be socially influenced and stay with their initial color.

The paper is published in PLOS One.