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Are you looking at me? Birds can tell if you are watching them - because they are watching you.
Wild Biology ^ | 4/30/08

Posted on 04/30/2008 11:26:08 AM PDT by LibWhacker

Birds can tell if you are watching them - because they are watching you.

In humans, the eyes are said to be the 'window to the soul', conveying much about a person's emotions and intentions. New research demonstrates for the first time that starlings also respond to a human's gaze.

Predators tend to look at their prey when they attack, so direct eye-gaze can predict imminent danger. Julia Carter, a PhD student at the University of Bristol, and her colleagues, set up experiments that showed starlings will keep away from their food dish if a human is looking at it. However, if the person is just as close, but their eyes are turned away, the birds resumed feeding earlier and consumed more food overall.

Carter said "This is a great example of how animals can pick up on very subtle signals and use them to their own advantage". Her results are published online today (30 April) in Proceedings of the Royal Society B.

Wild starlings are highly social and will quickly join others at a productive foraging patch. This leads to foraging situations that are highly competitive. An individual starling that assesses a relatively low predation risk, and responds by returning more quickly to a foraging patch (as in the study), will gain valuable feeding time before others join the patch.

Responses to obvious indicators of risk - a predator looming overhead or the fleeing of other animals - are well documented, but Carter argued that a predator's head orientation and eye-gaze direction are more subtle indicators of risk, and useful since many predators orient their head and eyes towards their prey as they attack.

This research describes the first explicit demonstration of a bird responding to a live predator's eye-gaze direction. Carter added: "By responding to these subtle eye-gaze cues, starlings would gain a competitive advantage over individuals that are not so observant. This work highlights the importance of considering even very subtle signals that might be used in an animal's decision-making process."

Do these birds understand that a human is looking at them, and that they might pose some risk? As yet, this question has not been answered. But whether or not the responses involve some sort of theory of mind, and whether or not they are innate or acquired, the result is that starlings are able to discriminate the very subtle eye-gaze cues of a nearby live predator and adjust their anti-predator responses in a beneficial manner.

This research was funded by the Natural Environment Research Council and the University of Bristol.

Note: This story has been adapted from a news release issued by Bristol University


TOPICS: Miscellaneous
KEYWORDS: birds; looking; predators; watching
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To: ClearCase_guy
This ant won't stop staring at me.


21 posted on 04/30/2008 11:59:31 AM PDT by Lazamataz (Secondhand Aztlan Smoke causes drug addiction obesity in global warming cancer immigrant terrorists.)
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To: Lazamataz

bird brains!


22 posted on 04/30/2008 11:59:48 AM PDT by woollyone (entropy extirpates evolution and conservation confirms the Creator blessed forever.)
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To: vpintheak
I don't know about that. Every morning there is a whole flock of pine grouse (ruffled grouse) sitting in one or another of the ornamental apple trees around my house and yard. As soon as I look out the window at them and notice they are there they all bugger off. I could be on the couch 10 feet away from a window, not move a muscle, just my eyes, and they either blast off or freeze up solid, ready to blast off. It's amazing just how sensitive they are. You'd think they'd be used to me by now, and I never hunt them to make them leary.
This flock has existed around here for about 15 years now, (the original birds offspring now of course) and they always seem to maintain a healthy number of about 25 birds or so that survive the winter.

I suppose many of the spring chicks fly off elsewhere in the fall; (they usually have have 2 hatches during the summer of about 10-15 chicks each female) I've often seen some scooped up by owls and coyotes, or find a pile of feathers here and there, but out of the hundred or so that literally infest my forest in the fall, (I have a 2500 acre spread of which about 1500 is forest) there always seems to be a group of 25 or so that hang around all winter eating from the fruit trees in my yard site.

23 posted on 04/30/2008 12:02:55 PM PDT by Nathan Zachary
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To: woollyone
I am having a problem with brown-headed cowbirds. They are a species of blackbird, but are parasites in that they lay eggs in other birds' nests and go on their way. The birds that stay with the eggs end up feeding the cowbirds, sometimes to the detriment of their own young, as the cowbirds are bigger.

I have tried shooting them with a BB gun, but they are smart and fast and I've had no luck. An online publication suggested not feeding any of the birds at all for about a week and maybe the cowbirds would go somewhere else.

Does anyone have a practical suggestion for me?

Carolyn

24 posted on 04/30/2008 12:12:51 PM PDT by CDHart ("It's too late to work within the system and too early to shoot the b@#$%^&s."--Claire Wolfe)
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To: LibWhacker

Anyone who has watched birds even as a passing idle glance in the back yard knows this.

Why did they have to spend money on a useless endeavor? All they would have had to do is to ask anyone who watched birds even for a few moments.

Idiots.


25 posted on 04/30/2008 12:15:44 PM PDT by El Gran Salseron ("Terisn" is my new favorite word. Thank you, Allegra.)
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To: LibWhacker
"This research describes the first explicit demonstration of a bird responding to a live predator's eye-gaze direction." grouse always have a few guards sitting in the trees around a feeding area. as the feeding birds get their share, they switch places with the guards.

When a big old owl hawk or eagle comes however, there is no eye contact. Just a soft "thud" sound and a bunch of feathers fluttering to the ground as the stealth bomber swoops in a snatches one of the guards or feeders.
the predator birds are incredibly fast, especially the owls. They are like bullet. All those fluffy feathers fold up real tight when they dive in.

Someone gave us a guinnea pig to babysit one time, and not thinking, I put it out in the yard to feed on a clump of fresh clover. I turned my back for just a second to tell my dog to lay down; then I heard the "thud" and the guinea pig was no more...

26 posted on 04/30/2008 12:18:08 PM PDT by Nathan Zachary
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To: LibWhacker
Predators have read the story and are quickly developing countermeasures.


27 posted on 04/30/2008 12:19:46 PM PDT by KarlInOhio (Pray for Rattendaemmerung: the final mutually destructive battle between Obama and Hillary in Denver)
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To: Lazamataz

Your pictures and captions are TOOO FUNNY!
Thanks Laz!


28 posted on 04/30/2008 12:19:57 PM PDT by trussell (I carry because...When seconds count between life and death, the police are only minutes away)
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To: CDHart
Fearless, flying cat. Will travel.


29 posted on 04/30/2008 12:20:17 PM PDT by LibWhacker
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To: Lazamataz

LOL


30 posted on 04/30/2008 12:21:17 PM PDT by LibWhacker
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To: LibWhacker

31 posted on 04/30/2008 12:21:28 PM PDT by relictele
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To: CDHart
Never heard of this!

Just did a cursory glance about them and the first thing that came to mind was to make lots of fake nests and put ‘em EVERYWHERE in your yard.

Then the cowbirds would have to try and figure out which are the real nests and which are the offering plates for the local snake populations and other predators.

32 posted on 04/30/2008 12:24:58 PM PDT by woollyone (entropy extirpates evolution and conservation confirms the Creator blessed forever.)
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To: Nathan Zachary
The snows tell many stories...


33 posted on 04/30/2008 12:25:28 PM PDT by LibWhacker
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To: LibWhacker
This is true. My African Grey parrot, Buster, even when his back is turned, can tell if I have turned to look at him, and has his eye on me instantly.

As prey creatures, it's in their best interest to be fully aware of their surroundings. That surely includes any loving gazes from their adoring humans.

Buster, you ROCK!

34 posted on 04/30/2008 12:34:45 PM PDT by redhead (I think I'm built upside down. My nose runs and my feet smell....)
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To: CDHart
I have tried shooting them with a BB gun, but they are smart and fast and I've had no luck.

You need more "BBs" per round.


35 posted on 04/30/2008 12:36:16 PM PDT by Bloody Sam Roberts (The secret of Life is letting go. The secret of Love is letting it show.)
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To: woollyone
That's not a bad idea. I'll think about it.

Carolyn

36 posted on 04/30/2008 12:37:39 PM PDT by CDHart ("It's too late to work within the system and too early to shoot the b@#$%^&s."--Claire Wolfe)
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To: LibWhacker

LoL! well, maybe sometimes wing tip marks. That one must have grabbed the overweight easter bunny and his basket of eggs...


37 posted on 04/30/2008 12:38:58 PM PDT by Nathan Zachary
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To: Bloody Sam Roberts
I thought about that. But I'd probably blow holes in the deck where the feeders are. I guess I could throw the seed on the ground and lie in wait for them. I'm not one to go around shooting things, but these birds are making me mad.

Carolyn

38 posted on 04/30/2008 12:39:27 PM PDT by CDHart ("It's too late to work within the system and too early to shoot the b@#$%^&s."--Claire Wolfe)
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To: CDHart

You need a fully equipped male barn cat. I promise you, your problem will be solved.


39 posted on 04/30/2008 12:43:13 PM PDT by alarm rider ("Difficile est saturam non scibere" -- it's difficult not to write satire.)
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To: alarm rider
But then the cat will get all the birds, not just the cowbirds.

Carolyn

40 posted on 04/30/2008 12:44:04 PM PDT by CDHart ("It's too late to work within the system and too early to shoot the b@#$%^&s."--Claire Wolfe)
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