Hey @eurogee :)

I grabbed my cup of coffee and headed to the computer wondering what the writing and research you mentioned you were doing yesterday was about. This is such a pleasant surprise! Despite knowing very little about them, I love birds :) So this makes for a truly pleasant read for me.

This part of your post reminded me of a saying I noted down many, many years ago

This means the feather colour we see when we look at birds may be quite different from what they see looking at themselves.

"We don't see the world as it is, we see it as we are"
Anaïs Nin

As for all the questions you raised at the beginning. Well, I guessed that evolutionary processes would answer them all. But, the info you shared here that is new to me is the reason why females have less bright feather colours (good to learn about their natural protection). And Gosh! Aren't female finches choosy :P

Thank you for these great read my dear.
I wish you a wonderful day.
Take care :*