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In the context of mate choice, males may vary continuously in their expression of assessment signals, typically reflecting information about variation in mate quality. Similarly, females may exhibit variation in mate preference, which could be due to differences in how individual females perceive signals. The extent to which perception varies across individuals, however, and whether differences in sensory physiology underlie perceptual differences is poorly understood. Carotenoid pigments create the orange-red coloration of many assessment signals, and they also play a role in color discrimination in many vertebrates via their presence in retinal oil droplets. Here, we link variation in oil droplet carotenoid concentration with the ability of female zebra finches (Taeniopygia guttata) to discriminate an orange-red color continuum that parallels variation in male beak color, a mate assessment signal. We have …