What do birds see with regard to colour? (1 Viewer)

I could do with some guidance on what birds perceive or react to in the way of colour, hopefully from someone ornithologically savvy on bird visual preception.

Over the last couple of years I have become more savvy about getting closer to birds I photograph, and have learnt a lot about how to move and when not to, what environments birds will be more confiding with, local differences in wariness of some species, and so on. I get much closer than I did a year ago, and my pics are showing the results

But I cannot claim any great ornithological knowledge on bird colour perception, which obviously has relevance to clothing and hide colours. There may well be considerable variance between species. I believe some birds' colour vision is stronger than humans' at the UV end of our visual spectrum.

Anyone got some good info on this?

Cheers
Bruce Winslade

winmark said:

I could do with some guidance on what birds perceive or react to in the way of colour, hopefully from someone ornithologically savvy on bird visual preception.

Over the last couple of years I have become more savvy about getting closer to birds I photograph, and have learnt a lot about how to move and when not to, what environments birds will be more confiding with, local differences in wariness of some species, and so on. I get much closer than I did a year ago, and my pics are showing the results

But I cannot claim any great ornithological knowledge on bird colour perception, which obviously has relevance to clothing and hide colours. There may well be considerable variance between species. I believe some birds' colour vision is stronger than humans' at the UV end of our visual spectrum.

Anyone got some good info on this?

Cheers
Bruce Winslade

Click to expand...

I can't claim any special knowledge about birds' visual perception. In a practical sense I have found that woodpigeon cannot see you if you stand in shadow and they are flying into the sun - obvious enough when you think about it - so you look for a suitable flight path and position yourself accordingly.

On a more general note, I believe the importance of "invisibility" varies enormously. What matters is perceived threat. Now, for some species (golden eagle springs to mind) a visible human is perceived threat, for others it's not so simple. Take corvids : Walk across a field, and the crows will allow you quite close (if they are feeding there). Carry a shiny piece of black tube that looks like a shotgun - and they will keep nicely out of range, thank you. Put a scarecrow in the middle of a field, very soon birds will be perching on it. Hide it (not too well) in a hedge with that piece of shiny black tube that might be a shotgun, and they will keep well away. Maybe attempted invisibility is worse than being upfront ?

On a calm day the boat round the Bass Rock approaches within c.10 metres of the gannets. Doesn't bother them a bit - they're used to it.

For many small birds my practice is to try to get the birds used to my presence. Another favourite is to use a tractor as a hide - they are fairly used to tractors, so if the tractor has been "dead" for a while, will come quite close. I'm told cars work quite well too. In the past I have placed a stool in what seemed a good place and went out there with a book and read for a while every day (after work - we have lovely long evenings in summer). After a few days, fifteen minutes reading was enough to settle the birds and they would come to within 5 metres or so.

This made me think of cats. You see a cat strolling past, not a care in the world - it's actually trying to fool that blackbird. See a cat apparently stalking something intently - it wants you to leave it alone so it can nip off to it's warm fireside.

I'm not convinced visual perception is terribly important for many species. I am not denying it is for some, and a well placed permanent hide is always a huge asset, no matter what species. However, I believe that in many instances odd behaviour (trying to hide for no obvious reason) arouses fear and is counter-productive.

HTH, Mike.

This is a topic which interests me too. I agree that there seems to be no constant response from birds to human activity. I have been in my present house for 10 years, and still the robins and blackbirds fly off whenever I approach them. In contrast, in a city park where I sometimes go birding, I almost have to avoid stepping on them, they just pay no attention. I too have found that a car makes a very good hide. In spite of what the so called experts tell us, I don't think (from personal experience) that it makes much difference what colour of clothing you wear. Birds are much more put off by movement, especially sudden movement, and they have excellent eyesight so they will spot you whatever you are wearing.

Another aspect of this which I have begun to question, is their response to noise. I really don't think noise in a bird hide has any effect on the birds outside. It is far more likely to upset the birders inside. I have RAF Tornados going over the house making conversation impossible, but the birds on the feeders pay no attention at all.The only noise which I have noticed they react to is a very sudden one, like a gun going off, but general background noise however loud seems to have no effect. I'd be interested to hear other birders' thoughts on this.

Ken

The "Scientific American" magazine recently had an article on the vision of birds.
They presented evidence that the range of light that birds can detect extends significantly into the ultraviolet range.

Ken Hall said:

In spite of what the so called experts tell us, I don't think (from personal experience) that it makes much difference what colour of clothing you wear. Birds are much more put off by movement, especially sudden movement, and they have excellent eyesight so they will spot you whatever you are wearing.
[...]
The only noise which I have noticed they react to is a very sudden one, like a gun going off, but general background noise however loud seems to have no effect. I'd be interested to hear other birders' thoughts on this.

Ken

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I'm not an experienced birder but this is what I found out recently: I'm sometimes lying on the beach waiting for the birds to come closer (and they really do - sometimes 2 metres ). They usually don't care what I am wearing, but there are some birds flying over me and when they see me they usually make some alarm noises and discourage every bird to come closer. That's why I'm using simple hiding (for instance this: http://allegro.pl/item118091118_siatka_maskujaca_jedyne_27_5zl_za_metr_biezacy.html) to be "invisible" for birds flying over me. The results of using this hiding: http://www.flickr.com/photos/namq/218406748/

As for the noise - I'm often waiting for the bird to come real close before "firing" my Canon 30D - the noise often scare them away, but not so much that they fly away, just run a bit farther. Then they come closer again and everything repeats.

the other day i was walking in good light with a white shirt on and an active poodle in tow and i got within 10-15 ft. of some feeding White-crowned Sparrows provided i was standing still....they even disregarded my slowly inching forward. you can often get close to birds if you are quiet and calm is what ive learned...of course muted clothing probably helps but not always necessary...

jrini said:

The "Scientific American" magazine recently had an article on the vision of birds.
They presented evidence that the range of light that birds can detect extends significantly into the ultraviolet range.

Click to expand...

Yes, a very interesting article. Birds have 4 primary colors essentially, (as opposed to our 3). They have an "extended" range on color, relative to us, and much higher accuity, especially the raptors.
I tend towards clothing that is drab, and as non-reflective as possible. I do not do camo, since i want my movement to be distinct, not indistinct.

Birder's World had an article in the June 06 issue called 'Feather colors: what birds see'. It dealt a lot with the UV color ranges of bird eyesight, which like others have mentioned is much greater than the range humans see.

I believe how you move is of far greater importance than what you are wearing when it comes to stalking birds. Also the head/shoulders silhouette seems to be a greater avian/mammalian catalyst for concern than clothing color. In my experience it pays to stay low and slow. At times, I have draped my jacket/shirt etc. over my head obscuring the head/shoulder silhouette to great advantage.

And I know this is an old thread, but I recently received a book on Bird Colors - by Geoff Hill and it also addresses what colors they see.
A very interesting read. Highly recommended.

Thanks. Hadn't heard of this book--looks interesting.

Yeah birds can see into the ultra-voilet wavelengths, thus meaning the colour we humans perceive won't be the same as they do.

So your snazzy new pink ganzy may not be pink to the birds at all ;-)

I also read somewhere that there is now some thought that some birds might be able to "see" the Earth's magnetic field, although I don't know whether they meant "see" as in sense with their eyes or with some other organ or structure.

I deal with the Earth's magnetic field in relation to my work and to be honest, the idea of optically sensing the field lines makes my head hurt!