Shinta, a Northern Goshawk, wore a head-mounted camera to assist with a study on raptor hunting behavior. (Image by R. Musters)
While humans may not have the hawk’s amazing eyesight, a new study suggests that both hawks and humans use similar visual techniques for search. To better understand the scanning techniques of a hawk, researchers mounted a camera on the head of a Northern Goshawk. Combined with footage of hunting raptors, gathered from the ground, authors found that hawks alter head movement patterns based on environmental information, with eye movement changing as a bird detects a potential target. This is similar to human visual search behavior.
Authors:
Michael F. Ochs, Marjon Zamani, Gustavo Maia Rodrigues Gomes, Raimundo Cardoso de Oliveira Neto, and Suzanne Amador Kane
Corresponding author:
Suzanne Amador Kane, Physics Department, Haverford College, Haverford, Pennsylvania, USA
Original paper published in The Auk: Ornithological Advances on November 16, 2016.
