Birds often run into objects that seem obvious to humans, like
poles or wind turbines. In France, it's estimated that 25
percent of young storks die from running into power lines. Why
does this happen, and what's the solution? Ecologist Graham
Martin, an expert in bird vision, wanted to find out. He
examined the problem from a bird's perspective, rather than a
human one, taking into account where birds' eyes are and how
they hold their heads when they fly. Eventually it became more
obvious what the problem was. Photo by Konstantnin/Shutterstock
Because birds have their eyes on the sides of their heads,
rather than the front like humans, their frontal vision is
generally less acute than ours. Add to that the fact that their
frontal vision is tuned for movement rather than obstacles, and
you get the problem of birds slamming straight into unmoving
power lines that are directly in front of them. Also, many kinds
of birds fly so fast that it's hard for them to pick up a lot of
landmarks, Martin explained, especia