what lovebirds see

[aris]

so I was wondering...does anyone know what they see, how they see, what they can see etc? are there any sites on this subject that anyone knows of??

[Monica]

Don't know about lovebirds specifically, but probably..... budgies as well as various other parrots can see ultraviolet light... what I mean by that is neon or bright colors light up, or so they say... which is a way they attract other mates.... It is said that they don't see well at night, too...

Here's a few of my birds under black light, which show the areas that light up on a bird....
http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/09...Black%20Light/

[CrazyBirdLady]

They see very well and don't miss a thing. They do see in color, just as we do and even have dislikes for certain colors; generally orange and red in large quantities. I don't know of any sites that are specific to lovebirds sight, but there are many out there that speculate some birds see color, others do not and that some may see in a broader spectrum of light than we do.

[RhondaR]

okay... I am no expert... I've searched the internet for this information before. I couldn't find the specific site I liked (and no, dang it, I didn't add it into my favorites) but I'll give you some of the interesting tidbits I did find

A bird's retina actually has three types of photoreceptors that "translate" light into nervous impulses:
· rods - black & white vision in dim light
· cones - color vision in bright light
· double cones - color vision
The interesting thing here is that humans only have two types of photoreceptors, rods and cones. Thus birds may see more colors than humans. In fact they may be able to perceive ultraviolet or near-ultraviolet light, which humans cannot. Moreover, bird retinas, in contrast to human retinas, contain no blood vessels. This prevents shadows and light scattering, which cut down on human vision.

One interesting difference between the primate eye and the bird eye is that the primate lens filters out wavelengths of light below 400 nm which renders ultraviolet radiation invisible. However, the bird lens is optically clear and appears to transmit wavelengths of light down to about 350 nm, which makes near ultraviolet radiation visible to the bird, and absorbing only those ultraviolet wavelengths that are not dangerous to the bird. Current research indicates that birds may secrete a substance from the uropygeal (preen) gland that is spread on the feathers and is visible in the ultraviolet range. It is suspected that this may be one way that a bird may visually discern the sex of other birds, through the differences in ultraviolet color in the feathers. This has not been proven, yet, however. But it is known that birds can see the three visual pigments that normal humans can see, called trichromatic, and they may be tetrachromatic because they may be able to see in the ultraviolet range.

Birds have three eyelids, and so do dogs and cats. The upper and lower eyelids have small bristle feathers that resemble eyelashes. Most birds only close their eyelids during sleep, and use the third eyelid alone for blinking. The third eyelid, the nictitating membrane, lies beneath the eyelids on the side of eye closest to the nostril. It darts across the eye about 30-35 times per minute in the domestic fowl, and also moves across the eye if an object approaches the eye suddenly or if something touches the head. The third eyelid becomes scooplike and sweeps excess fluid in to the corner of the eye where it drains. In most birds, the nictitating membrane is transparent, so vision is not impaired when the eyelid blinks, which is important since so many birds are prey animals. It helps to be able to see when blinking! It is suspected that some birds may fly with the third eyelid covering the cornea of the eye, which prevents it from drying out during flight, acting like birdy goggles.

Here's an interesting article, if you can wade through it. Avian Visual Cognition