The Hawk-Eyed Songbird: Retinal Morphology, Eye Shape, and Visual Fields of an Aerial Insectivore

The American Naturalist
Luke P Tyrrell, Esteban Fernández-Juricic

Abstract

Swallows are a unique group of songbirds because they are active-pursuit predators that execute all aspects of hunting prey in flight: search, detection, pursuit, and capture. We show that swallows have evolved a visual system that is unlike that of any other studied songbird. Swallows have a bifoveate retina that provides sharp lateral and frontal vision, an unusually long eye that enhances spatial resolution, a large posterior blind area, and a narrow binocular field. We also show that swallows and diurnal raptors (hawks and falcons) have converged on a similar visual configuration but that, interestingly, predatory songbirds that ambush prey (flycatchers) have not converged on the same suite of traits. Despite the commonly held belief that predators rely on binocular vision, the temporal (frontally projecting) fovea present in swallows-but not present in other songbirds-is likely not involved in binocular vision. Instead, swallows have four nonoverlapping foveae in a 100° arc around the beak, which can improve the tracking of frontally located aerial prey that are engaging in evasive maneuvers. Overall, vision in pursuit predators reflects the complex sensory demands of hunting in the air at high speeds and emphasizes the im...Continue Reading

Associated Datasets

Citations

May 20, 2018·The Journal of Experimental Biology·Simon PotierFrancesco Bonadonna
Jan 26, 2020·Veterinary Ophthalmology·Filipe Espinheira GomesJessica McArt
Nov 7, 2019·Ecology and Evolution·Harrison H Jones, Kathryn E Sieving
Oct 28, 2019·Scientific Reports·Luke P TyrrellEsteban Fernández-Juricic
Feb 15, 2018·Frontiers in Neuroscience·Luke P TyrrellEsteban Fernández-Juricic
Nov 13, 2020·Nature·Masayuki SenzakiClinton D Francis
Mar 5, 2021·Science Advances·Laura StidsholtPeter Teglberg Madsen

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