#Ready4Rainbow

Here are 7 gorgeous birds in the colours of the rainbow to celebrate Singapore's repeal of 377A!

Animals can be gay, and humans are just some of the unique and bizarre animals that populate Mother Earth. To celebrate the Repeal of 377A, I’ve compiled a list of 7 gorgeous birds in amazing colours, some of which have shown homosexual behaviours. Read on to find out more!

Red: Chilean Flamingo

Okay, they’re more pink than red, I’m sorry! These leggy birds can be found across South America, and have been recorded in committed same-sex relationships that can involve copulation, traveling and living together, and raising young together.

You may ask: how do gay/lesbian birds have chicks in the first place, though?

This helpful article shares more about the process, but it’s about Laysan Albatrosses and not Flamingoes. (Sadly, LAs are too drab a shade of white and grey to be featured in this fabulous newsletter.)

Each breeding season, the females would find male albatrosses to mate with. Then they’d return to their own nest to lay their eggs. Like male-female pairs of albatrosses, they would take three-week shifts. But a pair of albatrosses can only incubate a single egg, and so when both females laid one, one of their eggs died. From year to year, it appears, the females alternate between which bird gets to lay an egg.

Orange: Guiana Cock-of-the-Rock (Yes, that’s really their name!)

I love everything about these birds. I mean, how could I not? They’re literally called Cocks; they’re bright orange, unmissable and unforgettable; their mating rituals are bizarre and iconic; and they apparently “delight in homosexuality" with almost 40% engaging in a form of homosexual activity and a small percentage never copulating with females.

The dancing, lip syncing stunners on Rupaul’s have got nothing on these performers from French Guiana!

Yellow: American Goldfinch

Okay, enough with the Gay Agenda. Here’s a handsome bird that has no relation to the LGBT community… I think. This little finch can be found across the United States, as is actually the official state bird of New Jersey, Iowa, and Washington. I’ve never had the pleasure of seeing of hearing them in real life, but they are well-known for their po-ta-to-chip flight call! I love their black and yellow colouring - so adorable!

Green: Common Greenshank

‘Where’s the green?’ I hear you ask. Trust me, my reaction was the same, the first time I spotted these while birdwatching in Singapore’s Sungei Buloh Wetlands. They’re called Greenshanks because of their green… legs. (Again, where?) To be fair, they are usually spotted near Common Redshanks, who have bright red legs, so I suppose their pale, greenish-yellow legs stand out in comparison to their red counterparts!

I wanted to include these birds to show that being LGBT+ isn’t always about being flamboyant and colourful. As drab as they are, Common Greenshanks are one of the many species of birds that have been recorded displaying homosexual behaviour.

Blue: Nissan Bluebird, AKA Lan Jiao

Have you ever heard of the Nissan Bluebird, a popular car model whose Chinese name unfortunately translates to ‘dick’? Well, now you have!

Indigo: Indigo Bunting

Back to birds! These brilliantly coloured, all-blue bird looks as if he fell in a paint bucket when God was out there creating all the different forms of life on Earth (you may have heard the tale of how White, Chinese, Malay and Indian people were made from mud and all took a bath in the same river, in the order listed above, and that’s why we’re the colours that we are - well, the Indigo Bunting is the lesser-known deuteragonist of that story.)

The all-blue male Indigo Bunting sings with cheerful gusto and looks like a scrap of sky with wings. They can be found in eastern North America - seriously, the US has the best birds!

Violet: Violet-backed Starling

Also known as the Amethyst Starling (their plumage really is that brilliant), they are commonly found in mainland sub-Saharan Africa. I have many fun facts about starlings that I’d like to share for another day!

We actually do have Starling species here in Singapore / Asian species. The larger Starling species are called mynas, and we also have the Asian Glossy Starling - a lustrous green-black bird with tiny, red eyes.

For subscribers who live in Singapore, you can spot the VBS and other lustrous starlings in Singapore’s Bird Park, at the free roaming African Treetops Aviary. Pay them a visit if you have the time - it’s an amazing experience, with free-flying birds so brilliant and shiny they look as if they’ve been dipped in oil, fluttering and flitting around you.

Thanks for reading till the end!

You don’t know how much I appreciate you - truly.

I also want to celebrate the 377A activists that worked hard to make the repeal a reality. Singapore has a long way to go when it comes to accepting the LGBT+ community, but let’s celebrate the little wins, and remember that #loveislove.