Crimson & Emerald & Olive

Crimson is the Vermilion flycatcher — the deep vivid crimson-to-scarlet of the male Vermilion flycatcher (Pyrocephalus rubinus — from Latin: pyrocephalus — 'fire-headed'; rubinus — ruby-red), one of the most spectacularly colored birds of the Americas. The Vermilion flycatcher is a small passerine bird (13-14 cm, 11-13 grams) of the family Tyrannidae (tyrant flycatchers — the most species-rich bird family in the Americas, with approximately 430 species), found from the southwestern United States through Mexico, Central America, and into South America (including the Pantanal). The male's plumage: the crown and entire underparts are the most vivid crimson-to-scarlet of any passerine bird in the Americas — a pure, saturated red that is functionally equivalent to the color 'crimson' (#DC143C). The female is much more cryptically colored (pale gray-brown with a pink-washed belly). The crimson coloration of the male is produced by carotenoid pigments (specifically astaxanthin and other ketocarotenoids) obtained through the diet — specifically from insects that have themselves obtained carotenoids from plant sources. The brightness and saturation of the male's crimson coloration is directly correlated with his carotenoid intake and is therefore an accurate signal of foraging quality and territory quality — females preferentially select the most vivid-crimson males. Emerald is the wet season — the vivid jewel-green of the Pantanal during the wet season (November-March), when the massive annual flood (the cheias — the annual flooding of the Paraguay River and its tributaries) covers approximately 80-90% of the Pantanal's area in 0.5-2 meters of water. The wet season transforms the Pantanal's dry savanna into a vast shallow lake-and-wetland with vivid emerald-green aquatic vegetation — specifically the massive floating mats of water hyacinth (Eichhornia crassipes — jacintos d'água — which produce vivid emerald-green floating mats up to 1-2 meters thick on the wetland surface), the emergent sedge grasslands (Cyperus giganteus — pirí — the most characteristic emergent grass of the Pantanal flood zones), and the dense riverine gallery forest that lines the main rivers with vivid emerald-green canopy. Olive is the dry season — the dark muted olive-green of the Pantanal's dry season (June-September) vegetation — the cerrado (the Brazilian savanna biome that borders and intergrades with the Pantanal on its higher, non-flooded margins). The cerrado is the most biodiverse savanna in the world — with approximately 12,000 plant species (approximately 45% endemic to the cerrado), 935 bird species, and 300 mammal species — but its visual quality is distinctly different from the vivid emerald of the wet season: the cerrado vegetation (dominated by twisted, fire-adapted trees — Cerrado sensu stricto — with thick, corky bark and small, leathery leaves) has a characteristic dark muted olive-to-khaki-green color, created by the specific adaptation of cerrado plants to the most severe seasonal drought conditions.