Show off your house ducks!

[Tevyes Dad]

I get it. So if their stereophonic vision is poor is it adequate for them while they are flying with their faces pointed straight? Same as my finch ducks. I cannot picture a bewrd flying and side facing everything. Do owls have excellent stereophonic vision?

Yes! Owls have forward facing eyes so they have most of their field of view covered by both eyes (like we do) - of course they have MUCH better vision! Owls don't care much about what is behind them. Ducks care about what is in every direction because most things find them tasty.

 

[Tevyes Dad]

lol Very true, up until a couple years ago my ducks would hear the rooster give the warning call and all the chickens would run for cover, the ducks would be sitting or standing out in the open and just look up until 2 yr ago this month a Huge red tail came down and killed a bantam chicken right in front of them, They listen and heed now.

Ducks can definitely learn (but they still aren't afraid of the rooster making the warning call - they just know it is an important call.)

 

[Buck Oakes]

Y'all I don't know if this is true but it's what I read in one of my many duck books, ducks can change their line of vision from the sides to the front

 

[Julie Birb]

Yes!  Owls have forward facing eyes so they have most of their field of view covered by both eyes (like we do) - of course they have MUCH better vision!  Owls don't care much about what is behind them.  Ducks care about what is in every direction because most things find them tasty.

Awe, poor ducks. So I have a question then and one that's been nagging at me for a bit. I think I figured out the answer based upon anatomy but am not 100% sure.

It pertains to the slight protrusion of a duck's eyeball and lack of a brow prominence. Go and get one of your ducks and look at the top of her head and you'll see how her eyeballs sorta protrude in a 360 degree fashion and there's nothing like a brow to block the eyes' upper vision. So what I am wondering is if the eyes give the birbs 360 degrees of periphery so that they can spot predators, esp air ones. I mean, I've never seen a duck walking in a perpetual head tilt. The tilt with the head comes after the bird sees something in his upward periphery. And it's that better straight on head tilting vision that enables him to see the thing in the sky.

 

[LittleLakePhil]

What I found funny this fall was how my ducks would tilt there heads from verticle to horizontal to watch the geese fly over.

 

[Miss Lydia]

What I found funny this fall was how my ducks would tilt there heads from verticle to horizontal to watch the geese fly over.

synchronized head tilting

 

[Tevyes Dad]

Awe, poor ducks. So I have a question then and one that's been nagging at me for a bit. I think I figured out the answer based upon anatomy but am not 100% sure.

It pertains to the slight protrusion of a duck's eyeball and lack of a brow prominence. Go and get one of your ducks and look at the top of her head and you'll see how her eyeballs sorta protrude in a 360 degree fashion and there's nothing like a brow to block the eyes' upper vision. So what I am wondering is if the eyes give the birbs 360 degrees of periphery so that they can spot predators, esp air ones. I mean, I've never seen a duck walking in a perpetual head tilt. The tilt with the head comes after the bird sees something in his upward periphery. And it's that better straight on head tilting vision that enables him to see the thing in the sky.

Exactly. Ducks can see pretty much everywhere that isn't blocked by their own body all at the same time. This image is from Wikipedea:


A duck sees much like a pigeon. So they can "see" a predator flying overhead while they are dabbling in the water, but like us, the resolution of their vision is best in the center of each eye's field so they can get details much clearer if they look directly at the object with one eye (head tilt). This is because of a small part of their (our) eyes called the fovea. It is where there is the highest concentration of cones in the eye.

Try this test turn your head only 15 degrees away from the screen and look straight forward. You can probably see the entire screen easily, but won't be able to read it very well. This is because your resolution is much lower even in the "normal" area of your vision once you get off center because that part of your retina is has a higher concentration of rods which help you see in low light conditions and you have fewer cones as a consequence.

So ducks don't have to tilt their heads to see something overhead, just to get a better look at it.

@Buck Oakes - I am by no means an expert so if you could find that tidbit, I would love to read it. I know many birds have two fovea in each eye, one for looking straight out their eye and one off to the side of their eye for looking straight ahead - but I think ducks only have one. They may be able to rotate their eyes somewhat (most birds can't but chickens do) to move more of their vision forward - I don't know. Or maybe it is just a mental focus thing (I don't think their out-of-fovea vision is that bad... Think of their straight ahead vision like a VHS and their direct one eyed vision like Blue-ray plus some) Anyway if you can find it please send it to me, that would be fascinating.

 

[Tevyes Dad]

synchronized head tilting

I love synchronized head tilting and I love the "Bucket-O-Sammy" avatar

 

[Miss Lydia]

I love synchronized head tilting and I love the "Bucket-O-Sammy" avatar

Bucket- of- Sammy that is a good one. lol

 

[Julie Birb]

Exactly. Ducks can see pretty much everywhere that isn't blocked by their own body all at the same time. This image is from Wikipedea: A duck sees much like a pigeon. So they can "see" a predator flying overhead while they are dabbling in the water, but like us, the resolution of their vision is best in the center of each eye's field so they can get details much clearer if they look directly at the object with one eye (head tilt). This is because of a small part of their (our) eyes called the fovea. It is where there is the highest concentration of cones in the eye. Try this test turn your head only 15 degrees away from the screen and look straight forward. You can probably see the entire screen easily, but won't be able to read it very well. This is because your resolution is much lower even in the "normal" area of your vision once you get off center because that part of your retina is has a higher concentration of rods which help you see in low light conditions and you have fewer cones as a consequence. So ducks don't have to tilt their heads to see something overhead, just to get a better look at it. @Buck Oakes - I am by no means an expert so if you could find that tidbit, I would love to read it. I know many birds have two fovea in each eye, one for looking straight out their eye and one off to the side of their eye for looking straight ahead - but I think ducks only have one. They may be able to rotate their eyes somewhat (most birds can't but chickens do) to move more of their vision forward - I don't know. Or maybe it is just a mental focus thing (I don't think their out-of-fovea vision is that bad... Think of their straight ahead vision like a VHS and their direct one eyed vision like Blue-ray plus some) Anyway if you can find it please send it to me, that would be fascinating.

I thought that was the case regarding their body not blocking any of their vision. Thanks for clarifying that. What a huge difference between the owl and pigeon vision. I reckon they were adapted based upon their diets? When you say birds or chickens rotate their eyes, are you referring to them moving their eyeballs in the socket? Kinda like we do? Like ours have muscles that move ours. My teensy Muscovies finches eyeballs move ever so slightly. It's cute.