Understanding how different our vision actually is, opens your eyes to why these bird walks are so important.
"So we as humans have one point of focus in our eyes,” says Berry. “That's called a fovea. So we can look at one thing and focus one it and everything else around it is blurry. These guys have two foveas or two points of focus inside of their eyes. So they can literally look at two different things at the exact same time. So if I put my finger in the air he could focus on my finger and my foot at the exact same time."
As opportunistic eaters, the ability to see two things at once is imperative.
"So they can be flying over a field and looking where they're going, while also looking down to hunt at the same time."
To see colors, humans rely on cones in our retina. They are our photo-receptors. The retina of a human has about 6 million cones, that broken down, sees red, green and blue. Raptors have the most highly evolved eyesight of all living organisms. They see on a spectrum of color much wider than ours. Many birds can actually see into the 'ultraviolet spectrum'.
"What that means is basically, things that we can't see physically when we look at stuff, sticks out very bright to them,” explains Berry. “One thing that they actually use to their advantage is that they can actually see urea, which is found in urine. So if they're hunting a rabbit and it's running across the ground and it happens to urinate while it's running, they can follow that rabbit because they can see its urine trail."
Raptors also have an enhanced ability to see things at a much closer time than humans. It's something called flicker fusion frequency, or FFF. Humans can see approximately 20 events per second. Thor the red-tailed hawk at Reflection Riding and other raptors, have an FFF of 80 events per second.
"What that means is that he's seeing things in slow motion. The best way to describe it, is if you are watching a movie and you hit the pause button, and still frame it frame by frame by frame, that's the way he sees life. What that does in the wild is that it allows them to move at a very accelerated rate and adjust for quick things that happen on the fly. So if he's flying through the forest at 50 miles per hour and the wind blows causing a branch to move, he has to be able to sense that and adjust his body so he doesn't slam into it."
You can plan a visit to Reflection Riding Arboretum and Nature Center to learn more about our local ecology and support nature and community spaces in our city.
"bird" - Google News
February 03, 2020 at 10:09PM
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3 In Your Town: Bird Walking at Reflection Riding - WRCB-TV
"bird" - Google News
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