Eli5 Why do birds have such twitchy movement?

Question

Compared to mammals, birds seem to have this jerky, almost robotic quality to the way they move. I was wondering if there’s any explanation for this

In: 1836

Answer 1

Different animals ‘run’ at different speeds. They literally perceive time differently. That’s why, for example, it’s so hard to kill a fly. To them, we are moving in slow motion. There’s a lot of science behind this, and I’m not an expert by any means, but birds move normally for their time perception. They aren’t jerky to other birds, only to us.