How do birds see the world?

Thanks for the comment Tripsy. It's been very frustrating not being able to get federal funding for such curiosity driven research such as our studies of perception and cognition in birds. The next great discovery could just come out of the completely unexpected direction from basic research. Of course, we shouldn't only do basic research in the off chance that something important to human society will come out of it. Rather, it should be pursued for its own sake in that it deepens our understanding of the natural world.

Love that you guys dig birds! And congratulations for getting 100% funding a few years back. Sorry to come to the party at midnight. Maybe someone is still here, manning a listening outpost. So much of science these days focuses on applied research, i.e. what can be applied to humans, as you stated here. What happened to basic scientific research, to learn, say, about the geobiology and spatial characteristics of birds? Or using senses we don't they know about? I'll betcha sharks (and weakly electric fish and some other critters) aren't the only dudes who have electroreceptors, maybe not ampullae of Lorenzini, but sensors that indirectly detect more than just the earth's magnetic field. I hope your work is going well. CheersCiao, ~Tripsy

Thanks, everyone, for backing our campaign! Because of your generous donations, we've met our goal 9 days before the deadline! Now Julia and I can prepare to purchase our pigeons and start testing how their brains construct visual objects! We'll continue to post updates about the birds and our data as we collect them.

Terrific to hear that you are funded!

Yay! I can't wait to follow the bread crumbs. Congratulations!!!

GOOD LUCK! I'm looking forward to hearing the results!

🐦🐦!

What do you find most fascinating about pigeons, or birds in general?