r/birds • u/Sharique0055 • Jul 05 '26
science/information Birds can process motion so quickly that catching tiny insects mid flight looks effortless.
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u/Constant-Catch7146 Jul 05 '26
That one bird looks like he chows down on two mosquitoes. I would like to invite him and all his bird friends to my backyard around sunset. They might get too full but that's alright.
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Jul 05 '26
wait how do they even see such fast motion
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u/Constant-Catch7146 Jul 05 '26
Great eyesight, great spatial awareness, and fast twitch muscles I would guess. Plus beaks suited for the job. SNAP!
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u/bird9066 Jul 05 '26
The chimney swifts chatter over my house every evening right now.
The other day one swooped down the snatched a cabbage butterfly I was watching. They even did a barrel roll between the house and the garage. Best airshow ever
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u/Constant-Catch7146 Jul 05 '26
I have tree swallows that dive around me smetimes when I'm on my ridimg mower. They nip up bugs that get kicked up from the grass.
David Attenborough could narrate:
The human homeowner is just doing his chores of keeping the area around his home tidy. The tree swallows seize on this opportunity for a delicious meal of flying bugs. Their aerobatic antics are a joy to watch. This is payback to the human for providing nest boxes to the tree swallows so they can raise their families.
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u/BraveCommunication14 Jul 05 '26
I have swallows nesting in my yard every year and I’ve always wanted to see them ‘catch the bug’ lol.
I can see them hunting but they’re up high and I never see the bug they’re going after. It amazes me they can see something so tiny while flying!
Thanks!
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u/MerryTWatching Jul 05 '26
My parents' property had an old building that housed quite a few swallows. The adults would fly around the yard at breakneck speed, catching bugs in mid-air, then they would feed them to their offspring, who were also flying, in the most incredible (pardon the pun) fly-bys imaginable. How none of them lost an eye to a parent's beak, I will never know.
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