Before we get started, the BirdNote backstory: In 2002, the then-executive director of Seattle Audubon heard a short public-radio show called StarDate. “We could do that with birds,” she thought. In 2005 the idea became a two-minute daily public-radio “interstitial” (short program). I recently asked BirdNote to help answer the recent questions you’d asked me.
Parts of Ellen’s answers below are in 2-minute audio clips to stream (all in the green links–or you can read the transcripts at those links if you prefer):
what senses do birds use to hunt?Q. How do hawks and other hunters such as owls find their prey from such a distance–is it all about eyesight, or is smell involved or sound or what?A. Sight! Sound! Smell!
Sight: The expressions “eagle eye” and “bird’s-eye view” weren’t coined without reason.
The eye of an eagle is one of the most sensitive of any animal, and may weigh more than the eagle’s brain. Learn more on that.
We do know that visual acuity is keenest among birds like flycatchers and hawks, which must pick out small or distant moving objects. We also know that birds’ eyes are about three times sharper than those of humans. This two-part show from the BirdNote archive goes into more detail: Listen to or readPart 1 and Part 2.
Sound: The barn owl’s ability to locate prey by sound is the most precise of any animal yet tested.
Smell: Diminutive seabirds called storm-petrels are olfactory
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