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Why do birds make robotic movements while standing?

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NFS4

NFS4

No Lifer
Stupid question. Why is it that birds when they are pirched make robotic movement with their heads/bodies. It's like they have no fluidity in movement, just jerky/notched movements.
 
If you think a predator is about to get you, are you really going to waste time to slowly turn your head to look in that direction.

This is a fight or flight response, not some hot girl over a couple of tables you see out of the corner of your eye while at a resturant with your date.
 
Originally posted by: NFS4
Stupid question. Why is it that birds when they are pirched make robotic movement with their heads/bodies. It's like they have no fluidity in movement, just jerky/notched movements.
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Because they want to pull the birds! 😉
 
Due to how their eye's are positioned they have difficulty with depth perception. They have to constantly move their head to have perspective/depth perception.
 
Originally posted by: NFS4
Stupid question. Why is it that birds when they are pirched make robotic movement with their heads/bodies. It's like they have no fluidity in movement, just jerky/notched movements.
Click to expand...

Theyre trying to *detect* color and motion, while staying realtively hidden. Unlike predators, most birds have eyes on the side of their heads, rather than the front, and this gives them a wider field of view, but its not 360. They don't really need depth perception because theyre not trying to catch or *track* anything moving. Moving a head/eye slowly is useful for tracking, but for detection amongst a background, the stiller is better, and the faster you can react to a stimulus or change fields, the better.

Theyre trying to pick out other birds and insects that are either tiny, well camouflaged, or both. Its much more beneficial to them to flick quickly between still positions than to smoothly move around. If you've ever played paintball and tried to detect others in camouflage at a distance through brush, youll find you'll have a VERY hard time detecting this motion unless you yourself are very still. Youll rarely notice the other players shapes (unless theyre wearing street clothes...mmm easy prey), until you see them move contrary to their surroundings. Then you can easily track them.

And the second, probably less important benefit is that those quick movements are less likely to be detected by a predator. Fast or slow motion is going to be detected just as easily, so the quicker they get ANY motion over with, the better.

This isnt limited to birds either - rodents, other small prey, etc. all act the same way, for the same reason. I doubt you've ever seen a squirrel pan its head around...but birds are just that much faster.
 
They probably look fluid to other birds - they look twitchy to us because we just operate a lot slower than they do. We probably look psychotically twitchy to a turtle.


Originally posted by: DarkKnight69
I can feel my IQ dropping reading this...
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-5 Intelligence

 
Originally posted by: BD2003
Originally posted by: NFS4
Stupid question. Why is it that birds when they are pirched make robotic movement with their heads/bodies. It's like they have no fluidity in movement, just jerky/notched movements.
Click to expand...

Theyre trying to *detect* color and motion, while staying realtively hidden. Unlike predators, most birds have eyes on the side of their heads, rather than the front, and this gives them a wider field of view, but its not 360. They don't really need depth perception because theyre not trying to catch or *track* anything moving. Moving a head/eye slowly is useful for tracking, but for detection amongst a background, the stiller is better, and the faster you can react to a stimulus or change fields, the better.

Theyre trying to pick out other birds and insects that are either tiny, well camouflaged, or both. Its much more beneficial to them to flick quickly between still positions than to smoothly move around. If you've ever played paintball and tried to detect others in camouflage at a distance through brush, youll find you'll have a VERY hard time detecting this motion unless you yourself are very still. Youll rarely notice the other players shapes (unless theyre wearing street clothes...mmm easy prey), until you see them move contrary to their surroundings. Then you can easily track them.

And the second, probably less important benefit is that those quick movements are less likely to be detected by a predator. Fast or slow motion is going to be detected just as easily, so the quicker they get ANY motion over with, the better.

This isnt limited to birds either - rodents, other small prey, etc. all act the same way, for the same reason. I doubt you've ever seen a squirrel pan its head around...but birds are just that much faster.
Click to expand...

Most educated guess here.
 
Originally posted by: Bootprint
If you think a predator is about to get you, are you really going to waste time to slowly turn your head to look in that direction.

This is a fight or flight response, not some hot girl over a couple of tables you stare and drool over while at a resturant with your mom.
Click to expand...

fixed for ATOT context
 
Originally posted by: pontifex
Originally posted by: Bootprint
If you think a predator is about to get you, are you really going to waste time to slowly turn your head to look in that direction.

This is a fight or flight response, not some hot girl over a couple of tables you stare and drool over while at a resturant with your mom.
Click to expand...

fixed for ATOT context
Click to expand...

Hahahaha, winner
 
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