Do Birds Have Good Eyesight & Hearing?

Most birds see and hear exceptionally well. While you provide all of the things your pet bird needs, their free-living ancestors needed strong vision to find food, mates and navigate, while their hearing allowed them to communicate and hear approaching predators. Birds are also sensitive to tactile stimulation, but most species lack a strong sense of smell or taste.

  1. Unparalleled Vision

    • Scientists believe that birds have the best eyes and vision in the entire animal kingdom. Birds see colors very well, which is part of the reason why many species use flashy colors to attract mates. Birds perceive variation in shades and hues that would be indistinguishable to humans. Further, many birds are able to see ultraviolet light. In 2001, researchers at the Centre for Behavioural Biology in Bristol, UK, published a study in ̶0;Proceedings of the Royal Academy,̶1; which investigated ultraviolet perception in a common pet species. The study documented that female common parakeets (Melopsittacus undulates) were most attracted to the males that reflected a high percentage of ultraviolet light.

    Vision and Diet

    • In 2009, Ben Knott et al. documented that carotenoid concentrations were higher in zebra finches (Taeniopygia guttata) and crimson rosellas (Platycercus elegans) that were fed food with supplemental carotenoids than those in a control group. Publishing their results in "Proceedings of the Royal Academy," Knott and his colleagues suggest that these concentrations greatly affect the visual physiology of these birds. Birds have carotenoids in their cone cells, which allow them to see colors; if the birds are deficient in the oils, their color perception likely suffers.

    Well-Developed Sense of Hearing

    • That birds depend heavily on their hearing is evident from their use of vocal communications. Many of their songs and vocalizations make them popular pets. While many birds are great mimics and can develop extensive vocabularies totaling more than 100 words, the birds may be doing more than simply regurgitating sounds that they hear. In 2004, researchers Ralf Wanker, Yasuko Sugama and Sabine Prinage of the University of Hamburg investigated the link between the vocalizations of spectacled parrotlets (Forpus conspicillatus) and their social structure. The researchers found that these birds associated a unique call with other individuals, essentially ̶0;naming̶1; their conspecific companions. Birds have far more acute hearing than humans do: while a human can only discern two different notes when played 1/20 a second apart, birds can distinguish different notes that are played 1/200 of a second apart. Additionally, birds hear and process notes using perfect pitch, as opposed to most humans who only use relative pitch to hear and remember sounds.

    Learning and Discerning With Sound

    • Song is an important component of zebra finch social behavior. While the females do not sing, each male zebra finch has his own unique song. They construct their songs by combining the sounds they have heard in their environment with pieces from the songs of their father and other male relatives. Zebra finches recognize each other by their songs, and use this as a method of discerning between friends and intruders.

    Range of Bird Hearing

    • While birds are able to resolve different pitches more accurately than humans are, most species have a limited range of hearing. Scientists have determined that canaries (Serinus canaria domesticus) can detect sounds from 250 hertz to 10 kilohertz. By comparison, humans can hear a much wider range of sounds: most adults can detect sounds from 20 hertz to 20 kilohertz. Pigeons (Columbia livia) cannot hear high frequencies as well as humans can, but they are capable of perceiving sounds as low as 0.5 hertz -- a frequency range termed infrasound.