We are all observers of the world around us, drawing conclusions and cues from our environment. Animals are also observers, referring to their surroundings to determine their status based on the social cues they pick up. But what they see, hear and perceive differs from what we see, hear and perceive. Behavior always has a cause and reaction. Some of the causes might be something that we cannot see, such as something occurring inside the bird. Behaviors may be a direct correlation to something we did that caused their behavior to change. One major element with which we can influence bird behavior is our lighting system.
Birds rely heavily on vision in order to perceive, thrive and survive. Their vision is used for determining friend from foe, finding and foraging for food, and for mate determination. As a human, I tend to think that we have pretty good vision overall. Considering we are “predators,” based on our bipedalism and forward-facing eyes, we have about 1 million fibers in each optic nerve, for example. Put into the context of how birds see, at a conservative comparison, we only have approximately 40 percent of the fibers located in a single optic nerve in a bird.