Avian Sensory Systems

Sensory world similar to ours, that of other primates, primarily visual

Are some subtle and some significant differences Senses of birds are NOT well understood

Vision is the primary sense, avian eyes are large

Vision
In most species, primary sense used to locate, identify and obtain food Primary sense in predator detection Important in flight, displays (communication) Map of world is visual

Key Structural Components of the Avian Eye

Lens: focuses light on retina

Retina: image-forming region Pectin: supplies O2, nutrients to retina (a significant difference)

Visual acuity of birds is NOT well understood

Cones more dense: + Flat eyes: - (some have round eyes) Each cone has own nerve fiber: + Steep fovea magnifies image: + Steep fovea distorts image:

Guess: most birds slightly better than us, a few much better

Other Features of Avian Vision

Steep fovea enables birds to follow moving objects well (pursuit of prey) Eyes located on side of head, many birds have only one fovea per eye, lack binocular vision, lack depth perception Birds have a wide field of view (3000+ common, up to 3600 in Woodcock)

Binocular vision of owls: 2 fovea per eye, eyes located in front

More Features
Species with 2nd fovea (located inside edge of the eye) have binocular vision (raptors, aerial hawkers) Color vision NOT well understood due to presence of oil droplets Richer, see ultraviolet See better through glare, at dawn Detect polarized light

One more feature: better accommodation due to muscles working on lens and cornea

Hearing: Total range of frequencies heard by birds similar to us, but each bird species has narrower range
Species hear best the frequencies of their own calls and song

Ear Structure
No external flap, rim around opening amplifies sound in species hunt by sound Ear drum separates outer, middle ear (like us), single bone in middle ear transfers sound to inner ear (3 bones in us) 3 fluid-filled canals for balance next to middle ear Sound receptors in cochlea of inner ear

Features of Avian Cochlea

More dense sensory hairs suggest more sensitivity (types determine frequencies heard, number stimulated determines intensity perceived) Tissue as well as fluid above sensory hairs suggests better temporal resolution, ability to detect complexities of song Experimental tests do not support

Owls and harriers use sound to locate prey

Rims around ear openings amplify sound Round heads collect sound Asymmetric ears (both horizontally and vertically) enable localization of sound

Echolocation
Occurs in 2 families, oilbirds and cave swiftlets Low frequency sounds (clicks) enable orientation in dark caves

Birds have olfactory organ, but sense smell NOT well understood

Turkey vultures, tubenoses, honeyguides use locate food Some tubenoses use to locate burrows Kiwis use to detect food underground Use unknown in most species

Birds have taste buds, but use of sense of taste NOT well understood
Birds use vision or touch, not taste, to identify food

Sense of touch (tactile)

Herbst (and other) corpuscles are mechanoreceptors Located on filoplumes, bristles Located on bills (especially probers), tongues (woodpeckers) of some species for prey detection

Other senses of birds

Magnetic sense Sensitive to changes in barometric pressure Hear infrasound (super-long wavelengths)

All are foreign to us, used in migration

Features of Avian Brain

Large optic lobes, small olfactory lobes Large cerebellum Site of higher learning centers, complex neural processing is corpus striatum (middle cerebrum), not cerebral cortex (outer cerebrum) Left hemisphere dominance

The Control System

Consists of nervous and hormonal systems Elements of the hormonal system: adrenal, thyroid and pituitary glands and the gonads Hypothalamus (midbrain) controls the hormonal system Neurosecretions act on adjacent pituitary Hormones from pituitary control other glands

Avian intelligence
Many birds have complex social memories, aware of relationships to others (cooperative breeders, other social species) Some birds have well developed spatial memories, can remember thousands of locations (corvids, chickadees; parrots) Parrots demonstrate cognitive abstract reasoning, semantic signaling (others?)