[Tweeters] Bird Behavior - "Keeping a level head"

[Dennis Paulson via Tweeters]

Great that you noticed that, Jim. I have long wondered at that in birds, really makes it fun to look at photos of them in flight. the long neck is perfect for that, as well as doing a lot of other things like reaching for food or preening anywhere on their body. Dragonflies can do exactly the same thing in flight, with a very flexible joint between their head and thorax. This must afford stabilization for their vision in both groups, among other possible benefits.

Another neat thing about birds is their head bobbing when they walk. Watch a pigeon or a coot, and the head seems to be bobbing all the time. What it is is that the head stays stationary while the bird advances, then moves suddenly to a new position before it advances again. Thus their head is stable for best vision most of the time.

Dennis Paulson
Seattle


> On Oct 28, 2024, at 1:03 PM, Jim Betz via Tweeters <tweeters at u.washington.edu> wrote:

> 

> Hi,

> 

>   A while back I posted about how I'd noticed that some sandpipers at Channel Drive

> 

> were keeping their heads level in tight turns where the body and wings were essentially

> 

> in the vertical plane ("on their side").

> 

>   On our recent trip to Cape May I took a lot of pictures of various species in flight

> 

> and it seems like pretty much all birds do this "all the time" (head 'parallel' to the

> 

> ground even if body and/or wings are not.  Here's an interesting pic of an Osprey

> 

> taken right after it began a dive ...

> 

> 

> https://eamon.smugmug.com/Family-pics-from-jim/Birds-and-Stuff-from-Jim/n-4Cw3NF/Cape-May/i-hLnmXQS/A

> 

> 

> ... and what I notice is that the bird has rotated its entire body so the underside is 'up' and

> 

> the head is 'normal'.  If you think about how an Osprey dives into the water after a fish

> 

> this makes a lot of sense because it can keep focused on the fish and adjust its flight path

> 

> for the target (fish).

> 

> 

>   I went back and looked at flight pics of eagles, hawks, owls, gulls and even passerines - and in

> 

> every case where the body/wings were off level - the head was still "level" (not necessarily

> 

> 'precisely level' level but definitely 'essentially level').

> 

> 

>   So, this seems like an additional feature of having a relative long neck and a head that can

> 

> easily rotate relative to the shoulders/body/wings.

> 

> - Jim

> 

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