We need to be able to distinguish between different individuals on nest camera videos to tell which individual is making calls. The chicks have white down feathers now, but will soon get grey down, so ideally the colour used would work on both. The nest videos are also only illuminated with infra red, so any pigment chosen needs to reflect in this spectrum of light. As they are parent raised it also needs to be non-toxic as the mother actively preens them. We have tried children's face paint which rubbed off in the humid environment under the mother's feathers, and was no longer visible after a short period. We next tried using berries to make use of their natural pigments, but it did not reflect in IR. We are open to any suggestions.
Nothing safe would last. Food grade colourings (?) are sometimes used to colour down of day-old hatchlings in Pet Shops. Whether these would be visible under infrared... unlikely too, I guess.
Dependent upon how many chicks you have in the log, is it possible to simply shave the chicks' down in elected spots. Eg. head, left side of back, right side of back, rump and NO SHAVE etc. etc
There are also 'safe' paints used in cattle work. Rump paints as indicators of mating of heifers. Greens, reds, purples. etc. Again, it's a question of detecting colour under infrared. Perhaps the paints can be used simply as plaques. And arranged as suggested, in lieu of actually shaving the down.
A blob here, a blob there. I am interested to see how you go.
There is work in Australia, and in my patch, around the black cockatoos. (etc.) Grahame Webb etc. But they only usually lay one or two eggs. But the researchers are likely to have been down your pathway. Good luck.
The spectra of most dyes (including food dyes) are usually quite complex in the IR spectrum and typically have clear wavelength-specific absorption lines. You could in principle review/ measure? the IR spectrum of one or more such dyes, select an appropriate wavelength and acquire an appropriate narrow-band IR filter to isolate the index light absorption band.
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