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How does the rock pigeon see?

The rock pigeon (Columba livia) is a bird in the order Columbiformes. Its eyes belong to the vision type Panoramic grain-eater and wader: 4 cones (violet-sensitive), low-moderate acuity, ~300-360 deg field, small binocular zone.

Measured in this species: colour, sharpness, field of view, foveas, night vision and motion (flicker fusion). Measured core: measured values on at least 3 of the 6 dials. Every value below carries its evidence level and sources; nothing is typed by hand.

Sample scene drawn in code: a face with red lips, a green shirt, red and green apples, flowers and a colour strip, as a person sees it.
The sample scene as a person sees it.
The same sample scene rendered by the See Like Animals engine for the rock pigeon's eyes, using the values in the table below.
The same scene rendered for the rock pigeon (60° field of view, daylight).
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What stands out

The six dials

Evidence levels: how the tiers work. "Measured" means a value measured in this species; "Estimated" values come from a close relative or an eye-size formula.

Vision values for the rock pigeon (Columba livia), catalogue-v1
DialValueEvidenceSources
ColourColour receptors
4 receptor classes: 406.5 nm (VS/SWS (violet)), 453 nm (SWS (blue)), 507 nm (MWS (green)), 567 nm (LWS (long))
measured in this species
Measured[1][2]
SharpnessAcuity
14 cycles per degree
median of 5 behavioural rows (method priority rule)
Measured[3][4]
Field of viewBinocular overlap
19°
median of 1 rows (eyes-at-rest rows preferred)
Measured[5]
Total field of view
316°
species-v1.csv
Measured (not re-verified)[6]
Blind area behind the head
44°
blind area = 360 - total field
Derived[6]
Eye placement
lateral
frontal if binocular overlap >= 60 deg, else lateral
Derived[5]
Sharp zones (foveas)Number of foveas
1
species-v1.csv text: 1 central fovea + dorsotemporal area (red field)
Measured[7][6]
Fovea type
central fovea		Measured[7][6]
Night visionActivity pattern
diurnal
mode of 6 rows (of 6 rows): diurnal; not_nocturnal
Measured (not re-verified)[8][9][10][11][2][12]
Rods vs cones
cone-dominated
nocturnal -> rod-dominated; crepuscular / cathemeral / mixed -> mixed; diurnal -> cone-dominated
Derived[8][9][10][11][2][12]
Motion (flicker fusion)Flicker fusion frequency
88.5 Hz
median of 4 bright-light rows (behavioural/whole-eye ERG rows; all rows: [70.0, 77.0, 100.0, 143.0])
Measured[13][14]

Other senses

Comparisons

Related animals

More birds: all birds with measured vision data.

Sources

  1. Lind O, Mitkus M, Olsson P, Kelber A. 2014. Ultraviolet vision in birds: the importance of transparent eye media. Proc R Soc B 281:20132209. Table 1. doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2013.2209
  2. Longcore T. 2023. A compendium of photopigment peak sensitivities and visual spectral response curves of terrestrial wildlife to guide design of outdoor nighttime lighting. Basic Appl Ecol 73:40-50. doi:10.1016/j.baae.2023.09.002. doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.8432720
  3. Caves EM, Brandley NC, Johnsen S (2018) Visual acuity and the evolution of signals. Trends Ecol Evol 33:358-372. Supplementary Tables S1-S3.. doi.org/10.1016/j.tree.2018.03.001
  4. Caves EM, Fernandez-Juricic E, Kelley LA (2024) Ecological and morphological correlates of visual acuity in birds. J Exp Biol 227(2): jeb246063. Supplementary Table S1.. doi.org/10.1242/jeb.246063
  5. Tyrrell LP, Fernandez-Juricic E 2017. Avian binocular vision: it's not just about what birds can see, it's also about what they can't. PLoS ONE 12(3): e0173235. S1 Table.. doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0173235
  6. species_v1:Martin & Young 1983
  7. Delacoux M, Kano F. 2024. Fine-scale tracking reveals visual field use for predator detection and escape in collective foraging of pigeon flocks. eLife 13:RP95549. doi.org/10.7554/elife.95549
  8. Anderson SR, Wiens JJ. 2017. Out of the dark: 350 million years of conservatism and evolution in diel activity patterns in vertebrates. Evolution 71:1944-1959. Dryad doi:10.5061/dryad.fg700. doi.org/10.5061/dryad.fg700
  9. Light conditions and the evolution of the visual system in birds (figshare dataset, SupplementaryDataset1). doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.22116371.v3
  10. Choiniere JN, Neenan JM, Schmitz L, Ford DP, Chapelle KEJ, Balanoff AM, Sipla JS, Georgi JA, Walsh SA, Norell MA, Xu X, Clark JM, Benson RBJ. 2021. Evolution of vision and hearing modalities in theropod dinosaurs. Science 372:610-613. doi:10.1126/science.abe7941. Data: https://osf.io/teq73/. doi.org/10.1126/science.abe7941
  11. Wilman H, Belmaker J, Simpson J, de la Rosa C, Rivadeneira MM, Jetz W. 2014. EltonTraits 1.0: species-level foraging attributes of the world's birds and mammals. Ecology 95:2027. BirdFuncDat.txt. doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.3559887.v1
  12. Moura et al. 2024. A phylogeny-informed characterisation of global tetrapod traits addresses data gaps and biases. PLoS Biol 22:e3002658. TetrapodTraits v3.0.1.. doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.22536349
  13. Healy K, McNally L, Ruxton GD, Cooper N, Jackson AL. 2013. Metabolic rate and body size are linked with perception of temporal information. Animal Behaviour 86:685-696. Table 1. doi.org/10.1016/j.anbehav.2013.06.018
  14. Lafitte A, Sordello R, Legrand M, Nicolas V, Obein G, Reyjol Y. 2022. A flashing light may not be that flashy: A systematic review on critical fusion frequencies. PLoS ONE 17(12): e0279718. S10 File (CFF database). doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0279718
  15. Inger R, Bennie J, Davies TW, Gaston KJ. 2014. Potential biological and ecological effects of flickering artificial light. PLoS ONE 9(5): e98631. Table 3. doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0098631

Every value cites its sources (all sources). Data: catalogue-v1, built 2026-09-29. Accuracy notes: how accurate is this?