# Pigeon Vision.....



## maryco (Apr 1, 2002)

Hello everyone,

I have a question about pigeon vision..
I wonder how pigeons can see, I know they see ultra violet light but I have a question about Something....

Tooty(Pet pigeon) goes to sleep after sunset or as soon as it gets dark outside and he sleeps up on the door..Sometimes I turn on the light when I come into the room to get something..Then he gets down on the floor and starts coooooing and dancing THEN my cat comes in and she sits there watching him and sometimes she runs up to Tooty just playing (She is a gently cat and really won't attach Tooty but I still watch her) Anyway Tooty usually flies away in the day if she attacks him but at night Tooty sits there and lets the cat sniff him all over as if he can't see the cat..In fact he looks like he can't see anything...I don't get it can pigeons only see natural light and not artificial??









And if anyone has anymore info on pigeon vision please explain..

Thanks!!

Mary


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## Pigeonpal2002 (Jul 27, 2002)

Mary, it's most likely a case of night blindness. Just like with humans in a way. Ever go from being dead asleep, in the pitch dark and then someone wakes you with bright lights??? It just probably takes him a moment to re-adjust to the new lighting after it being so dark. My pigeons are the same way, even though I don't have a cat sniffing them. But if they are asleep and it's pitch dark, then I turn on the lights, they are "Stunned" by the bright lights for a few moments and don't really react to me right away. 


Brad


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## hilary (Jun 20, 2002)

Hi Mary

Hercules seems to see really well, even in the dark. However, if it is sort of pitch dark, he won't fly, but he walks to wherever he wants to get to.


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## maryco (Apr 1, 2002)

Thanks for the replies









I have experimented yesterday night and left him on the floor about 15 minutes..I wanted his eyes to adjust and then see if he had the same problem, and he did!
It's strange..I would really like to know how pigeons see..I know cats see black and white..
I think the pigeon know it's night and even if there is a light on he still wants to keep still?

Mary


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## PigeonFinder (Jun 18, 2002)

> Originally posted by maryco:
> *I know cats see black and white..*


I believe cats actually see more than just black and white. They can see some color, but it's very washed out, and the colors they see aren't what we see (for example, something that looks red to us looks black to them). Their vision is also very blurry (I've heard they can't see facial features on their humans). 

Eden


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## maryco (Apr 1, 2002)

Thats true Eden..I guess that is why a cat sniffs a persons hand or foot to know who they are from their scent..


Mary











> Originally posted by PigeonFinder:
> * I believe cats actually see more than just black and white. They can see some color, but it's very washed out, and the colors they see aren't what we see (for example, something that looks red to us looks black to them). Their vision is also very blurry (I've heard they can't see facial features on their humans).
> 
> Eden*


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## turkey (May 19, 2002)

Mary,

For the record, since I'm up all through the night and my pigeons are also up, they have no problem seeing with the artificial house lighting. 

Maybe Tooty is sleep walking. Lol!

Julie


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## Danielle Chase (Jun 26, 2002)

The last time I went to my optometrist for an eye test, I happened to ask him how well pigeons could see. He said they saw mostly shadows, and had a very wide range of vision due to the placement of their eyes. They don't see well at night, though. One guy that worked on a farm told me that the nights he had to go up inside the silo, it was too dark for pigeons to fly, but also knowing there was something there, they slapped him in the face and knocked his hat off.







Regards, DC.


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## Pigeonpal2002 (Jul 27, 2002)

Pigeons definitely see more than just shadows. They see in true colour and they can also see uv. Birds have some of the keenest vision in the animal kingdom. They need to since they are flying etc and searching for tiny bits of food in the grass etc. Pigeons do have very poor night vision though and I'm certain with these birds it's the bright lights after dark that is temporarily blinding them. 

Brad


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## Psion (Mar 1, 2002)

Pigeons cannot see well in the dark... that is why when pigeons don't trap or if you are catching wild ones (I've heard of people doing it) you get them in the dark. They will just sit there, you can pick them right up, no lie! I've had to do it once with my most skittish roller. She didn't trap and if I went near she would fly away. After dark though I just went out and picked her up no problem. They won't fly in the dark... If you throw them up they'll just drop to the ground.

Nick


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## raynjudy (Aug 22, 2000)

And yet, the U.S. Army Signal Corps did, with some success, train pigeons to fly at night...

Pigeons have very keen eye sight. How do you suppose they spot those little seedsies in the carpet? Extensive tests by B.F. Skinner at Harvard proved this beyond a doubt. They also see color--but only the pigeon knows "how" it sees the color.

If one looks at the skull and space dedicated to the eye-brain function of a pigeon, it's evident that an enormous amount of those resources are dedicated to vision. If we had similar allocation for vision, our eyes would be the size of tea cup saucers!









A pigeon's "pattern recognition" is superior to most human's.

It is said that the bobbing of a pigeon's head while it walks is due to certain limitations of the eye-brain coordination it possesses, by virtue of the size of its skull--sort of like an owl's eyes are fixed in the sockets, and it moves its entire head.
They think the pigeon visually takes in its close environment, in a series of fast, constantly refocused "freeze-frames", while using a wide angle of general focus for overall flight (notice how they're heads don't bob when they're flying?).

Another study shows that a pigeon can focus its eyes to the equivalent of an 8-power binocular. That's enough to spot four of the moons around Jupiter, any clear night.

And yes, they do see into the ultraviolet part of the spectrum.

From practical experience, I can tell you this: Bernie doesn't miss much!









--Ray


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## turkey (May 19, 2002)

Since we are on the topic. 
Every night I clean the bottom of their cage, and go inside it and visit for a bit. Last night I didn't get to them for a while after I had put them in their cage. 

When I finally got in there they were falling asleep. I approached Shuku (who is a little skittish) she watched me, but didn't move as I came very close to her. She is normally nervous about me being in the cage. 

I don't know, maybe she's getting used to me or maybe sleepiness has something to do with them freezing. 

Julie


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## maryco (Apr 1, 2002)

Bumping up for members with pigeon vision questions!

Mary


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## cooter2 (Jul 4, 2003)

Hi Mary,

If you are interested enough in Pigeon Vision to do some heavy reading you might try this site:
http://www.pigeon.psy.tufts.edu/avc/husband/default.htm 

Be warned, it's a toughy.



------------------
Cooter


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## pigeon george (Aug 7, 2003)

pigeons dont see well in the dark at all but will at times take flight if in threatning situation racing homers that have not trapped will sometimes "night flight" were they will keep flying through the night for fear of crash landing


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## Guest (Aug 21, 2003)

This is a fascinating bunch of information. I never knew that pigeons see badly in low light or when they're getting used to it. As far as cats go, they may not see the details, but they're still good at knowing what they're looking at, somehow.

Our pigeons do fly inside our apartment in low light when they don't want to go home. Then, i try the pitch dark trick. Not much fun for me.

One of my three pigeons used to fly right on top of one of the cats. The cat never did much but would give a look like he was putting up with something icky. And the bird would walk around, cooing and bowing on the cat while he was lying down. He's a very gentle cat, isn't he? I wouldn't have trusted some of the other ones i've had.

This might be in that Tufts article - Pigeons were tested for face recognition. They were shown a photo of someone they knew (a person) in a group shot, and it was a small print. They always picked out their friend.

And pigeons are favorites for psychologists who are testing when they need an animal that can distinguish many hues of color.

[This message has been edited by AlStreit (edited August 20, 2003).]


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## screamingeagle (Oct 16, 2002)

Mary, my pigeons do fine in artificial light at night. Even if the light is low, they will still fly around. It could be they are not used to going to bed at sunset as their cage is in the living room and we're usually in there until 10pm, and are just used to the constant light. Maybe your pigeon is just so used to his normal bedtime with a sunset, that sudden light during his sleep is a shock, and he is still kinda groggy from sleeping. 

Maybe try leaving your light on for several hours after sunset, and see what he does.

Have fun!!!!!!!!

Suzanne


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## maryco (Apr 1, 2002)

Hello everyone,

The post above was posted last year and is about my baby Tooty (who passed away in Oct) 

I was only bumping up the post for some other members who were asking about pigeon vision so I thought this thread might be informative.

Thanks everyone!

Mary


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## TAWhatley (Mar 6, 2001)

Bumping up ..

Terry


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## Maddiekisses (Sep 17, 2003)

Hi Mary,

I am by no means an expert, but your queestions and comments were interesting and I thought I would respond. I know that my pet pigeon, Owl, can most definitely see in artificial light. I am a night person (owl, you could say







) and I had thought that at first that would be a problem. However, it turned out to not even be an issue. Owl is awake and active during my waking hours and the majority of those are when it's dark outside. He ha no problem whatsoever seeing indoor with artifical lighting. Maybe it's possible that your pigeon has night blindness?


> Originally posted by maryco:
> *Hello everyone,
> 
> I have a question about pigeon vision..
> ...


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## Skyeking (Jan 17, 2003)

Pigeons do have night blindness in their normal outside world. I have gone out in my coop and am easily able to pick one off their perch, but it shocks them, and I don't like to do that. They will start moving around at 4 o'clock in the morning when they see the light of our kitchen. my husband gets up quite early for work.

My pigeon that is rehabbing indoors however, can see perfectly in low and artificial light. He is up with the rest of us until the lights go out. I have put him in a seperate room, so he can sleep as he would normally after sunset.

One more thing, for great vision be sure your pigeons get corn in their mix, and make sure it is the dark yellow to orange kind. Corn has the pro-vitamin A (beta carotene) that pigeons convert to vitamin A-which is important for vision and night vision. They have concentrated amounts of Vitamin A in their eyes like we do. Treesa


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## maryco (Apr 1, 2002)

Thanks for posting the extra info on this thread.. 

As you probably noticed, the subject is very old and sadly my dear Tooty isn't with us anymore (it's been about a year exactly, he passed away last oct







)

I'm sure other members can learn something from this informative thread!

Mary


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## Skyeking (Jan 17, 2003)

Hi Mary,

Thanks for bumping up this thread with all the information. I'm so sorry it brought back sad memories of Tooty.


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## WhiteysFriends (Aug 19, 2002)

I don't know about night vision, but I believe pigeons' day vision is really quite extraordinary. Pigeons have been used to spot, from rescue helicopters, orange-life-jacketed people who are lost at sea, and they do a far better job than people with binoculars. At least that's what I learned from a TV documentary about pigeons. There was even a plan to use pigeons to identify bomb targets from the planes in World War II, and it would have worked, but the air force nixed the actual implementation because of some sort of embarrassment about relying on birds.


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