As regular CFZ-watchers will know, for some time Corinna has been doing a column for Animals & Men and a regular segment on On The Track... particularly about out-of-place birds and rare vagrants. There seem to be more and more bird stories from all over the world hitting the news these days so, to make room for them all - and to give them all equal and worthy coverage - she has set up this new blog to cover all things feathery and Fortean.

Wednesday, 21 January 2015

What’s Up With That: Birds Bob Their Heads When They Walk

01.20.15 | 

Pigeons get a bad rap, but they are one of my favorite species of bird. The only thing that irks me is the way they go around picking up bits of peoples’ leftover lunches. I’m not condemning their dietary choices (who am I to judge?), it’s just that I always felt like they’d get a lot more respect if they stopped that ridiculous head bobbing while scavenging for food.
What's Up With That?

Each week, we'll explain the science behind a strange phenomenon that you may be wondering about, or may be hearing about for the first time right here. 

Because their primary mode of transportation is flight, I figured pigeons needed to bob their heads to keep from tipping over while waddling after hot dog nubs. In reality, it has nothing to do with their sense of balance, but everything to do with the way they see the world.

What the head bobbing lets pigeons do is momentarily fixate their eyes on objects. This gives the photoreceptors in their eyes enough time—about 20 milliseconds—to build a steady scene of the sidewalk world. And this has nothing to do with their bird-size brains.

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