How Do Pigeons See?

Pigeons are cute and human-friendly birds. And humans use them for different purposes in a different stage of lives. Now a day’s people still keep them and use them in various race competitions. Even in cities, people also keep them in their houses and feed them.

However, pigeons are considered intelligent birds as they remember their way home even from large distances. Not only this, pigeons have high accuracy of depth perception compared to humans. That’s why pigeons return home safely, even from heights.

All these facts prove that pigeons have different strengths of senses to find locations. So. Let’s have a look at the fact that how do pigeons see?

Actually, pigeons have better vision as compared to humans. Therefore, they can see ultraviolet lights that humans cannot. Moreover, they can see more number of colors as compared to humans as well as in a better way.

For example, in the rainbow, humans can see seven colors, but pigeons can see more colors than seven. In addition, pigeons have monocular eyes, which allows them to see sideways also. Moreover, their eyes allow them to navigate properly at night.

If you think that the eyes of humans are better than birds, then, study shows the opposite of it. As bird’s eyes and vision are much accurate and better than humans, as they have to survive in the wild.

However, it is possible that human eyes may not be able to notice the minutest detail as birds can.

Not only this, pigeons can listen to lower frequency sounds that are not audible to humans. However, pigeons have great vision due to a lot of things as describe below:

Pigeons can see much better than humans due to specific reasons:

Field Of Vision:

Pigeons have 135 degrees of field vision vertical and 340 degrees of field vision horizontally. And this type of vision allows them to see the things in front of them as well as in sideways of them.

However, humans have 135 degrees of field vision vertically and 180 degrees of field vision horizontally. And because of this, our side vision is not that clear as of pigeons.

Visual Acuity:

Visually acuity comes into existence when we have to see things from a distance. And, it is hard for us to see things clearly from long distances as well as to differentiate them properly.

Also, we aren’t able to differentiate colors from long distances. However, this is not the case for pigeons, as they have 400,000 photoreceptors in that part of the eyes which receives light from objects.

While humans have 200,000 photoreceptors per square millimeter in their retina. And because of this blessing, pigeons can see better from long distances.

Even they are able to differentiate colors and other things from long distances. As well as they have more excellent visual acuity compared to humans.

Color Vision:

Naturally, a normal human is trichromatic, while pigeons are pentachromatic. However, trichromatic means normal humans can receive all three primary colors: red, green, and blue. Therefore, a trichromatic person’s vision is considered to be accurate.

But pigeons being pentachromatic means they can receive, process, and transmit five independent channels of colors. Therefore, being pentachromatic, they can see the world in a very different way as compared to humans.

Read also: What Do Pigeons Eat ?

This is also a reason that pigeons can see more colors in the rainbow than humans. As we can see only red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, and violet.

How Do Pigeons Navigate:

How do pigeons navigate? Or how pigeons find their way back to home from long distances? These two questions are fascinating as they show the vulnerable ability of pigeons.

However, many theories answer these questions, but scientists nowadays believe that pigeons have both compass and map mechanisms. And this mechanism helps them to find their way back home even from 1,000 miles.

Use Of Earth’s Magnetic Fields:

Moreover, many researchers believe that pigeons use earth magnetic fields to return their way back to homes. As pigeons have an iron concentration in their beaks. It will allow them to detect magnetic fields easily.

Use of Low-Frequency Infrasound:

However, many researchers believe that pigeons used low-frequency infrasound to find their way back home. As pigeons can listen to lower frequency sounds that are not audible to humans. So with these sounds, they can recognize sounds of their home place.

Can Pigeons See at Night:

Pigeons are daytime birds and also have better vision in the daytime rather than humans. But they don’t have night vision, which means that they can’t see in darkness.

But it doesn’t mean that they can’t see at night in the presence of moonlight. As pigeons are able to see ultraviolet lights, so their eyes are sensitive towards the light. And they can find their ways at night just in the presence of moonlights as well as in city lights.

Do Pigeons Recognize Faces?

There are just a few birds with the ability to recognize the faces of people. And pigeons not only can recognize faces but also they can recognize their own image in the mirror.

However, researchers show that pigeons have the ability to recognize those who feed them and also those who mistreat them. Moreover, this ability is helpful for them to survive in the wild.

And also, the people who have pigeons as pet birds say that pigeons recognize them, as well as they don’t have fear from them and also don’t fly away from them when they approach them.

How Do Birds with Eyes on The Side of Their Head See?

Birds, having eyes on their heads, can see forward and sideways also. And also, they have a better vision to see things precisely.

Moreover, this ability to see forward as well as sideways helps them to survive in the wild. And also help them to see if any predator is coming from either side.

Birds like pigeons and parrots, as well as raptors, have eyes on the side of their head. And these type of eyes helps them to survive in the wild.

Are Pigeons Color Blind?

Pigeons are not color blind creatures. But instead of it, pigeons can see more color than humans as well as they can see ultraviolet lights. Not only this, pigeons can recognize different colors through long distances.

Can Birds See TV Screens?

Yes, birds not only can see TV screens but also they enjoyed them a lot. As researchers believe that naturally, birds are interested in colors and sounds.

So different sounds and colors on TV will entertain them. But keep in mind that don’t let your bird to see offensive scenes as action scenes.

Also, don’t let them see such scenes where large animals prey to small animals as it will cause stress to them.

Wrap Up:

In this article, we discuss that how do pigeons see? Pigeons can see with their eyes (which are on the side of their head) which allow them to see not only forward but also in sideways.

Moreover, pigeon’s vision is stronger than human’s as they are pentachromatic. And can see more colors than humans, as well as they can see ultraviolet lights.

Not only this, but pigeons have amazing navigation power, as they can accurately find their way back to home even from large distances and heights.