Avian vision: A stable view of a moving world

2026/08/01 by Patrick Lewin, Steven J. Portugal · 1 voice
Neuroscience · #Neurobiology and Insect Physiology Research #Vestibular and auditory disorders #Visual perception and processing mechanisms

paper · doi:10.1016/j.cub.2026.06.068

openalex publication_date 2026/08/01 · openalex created_date 2026/08/04 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/04

Abstract

Two new studies provide the clearest evidence yet that eye position is actively controlled during avian flight. Pigeons dynamically balance image stabilisation, optic-flow processing and binocular vision, suggesting that gaze control is integral to navigation, obstacle avoidance and landing.

Citations

• Muscles that move the retina augment compound eye vision in Drosophila
• Pigeons lock their eyes in place during flight

Discussions

• Our (with @plewin.bsky.social) @currentbiology.bsky.social Dispatches is out today (doi.org/10.1016/j.cu...). Covering two recent papers about bird eye movements during flight, using homing pigeons as [bsky, 22 points, 0 comments]

Related

• Requiem for a heavyweight – can anything more be learned from homing pigeons about the sensory and spatial-representational basis of avian navigation?
• Eye movements of laterally eyed birds are not independent
• Edge Detection in Landing Budgerigars (Melopsittacus undulatus)
• Homing Behavior of Pigeons after Telencephalic Ablations
• Forty years of olfactory navigation in birds