By the early 1920s, roseate spoonbills were hunted to the brink of extinction for their fashionable pink and magenta plumage. Ladies paid exorbitant prices for hats and fans made from their feathers.
Ironically, the joke was on them, because the pink color faded quickly once the feather was separated from the bird. Metabolized crustaceans from the spoonbill’s diet provide its distinct coloration. When the bird quits eating, the color disburses.
Funny thing about that – I guess if God meant women to wear pink feathers, we’d live on shrimp cocktails.