Re: Birds' eyes (was re: Spotlighting)

[Paul Taylor <>]

The comments about nocturnal birds and the effect (or no effect) of
spotlights on their vision are interesting.  Could it be that birds'
eyes are "built" differently to mammal eyes in such a way that they
do not suffer from flash blindness as we do?

Last week, I was fortunate enough to track down a pair of Southern
Boobooks in the carpark at Campbell Park in Canberra.  My torch battery
was flat (otherwise I would have taken it) but seeing the silhouette
of a Boobook perched and flying against the moonlit clouds and having
 the silent, ghostly shape of a Boobook bursting from a tree when
I got within a few metres of it was still exciting.  :)

 
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
 _                                                       ___   |\
 \\                                                   __/   |__| \
  \\                                             |   / Bird lists \
   \\    __            Paul Taylor               ^  / 1997: 140spp.\
    \\__/ .\_                                    " /  Life: 348spp. \
    |      /                     \ (up  0spp.from /
     \____/                                         \    _____1996)/
      //      http://www.ozemail.com.au/~birder/     \__/     \___/
      \\                                         |              __
       ""                                       _|_             \/