Eli5 Why do birds have such twitchy movement?

2.40K views

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

108 Answers

Anonymous 0 Comments

Taking the questioner seriously, birds mostly have separate vision on the left and right but each eye had a wide angle of vision. The head control for a comparatively light head allows rapid movement to closely examine a new interest or danger and it is my belief that they cannot scan slowly like humans and most if not all large mammals.

Anonymous 0 Comments

Taking the questioner seriously, birds mostly have separate vision on the left and right but each eye had a wide angle of vision. The head control for a comparatively light head allows rapid movement to closely examine a new interest or danger and it is my belief that they cannot scan slowly like humans and most if not all large mammals.

Anonymous 0 Comments

Taking the questioner seriously, birds mostly have separate vision on the left and right but each eye had a wide angle of vision. The head control for a comparatively light head allows rapid movement to closely examine a new interest or danger and it is my belief that they cannot scan slowly like humans and most if not all large mammals.

Anonymous 0 Comments

Oddly, Cats, the natural enemy of birds, also have weird, jerky, almost robotic qualities to the way they move.

Anonymous 0 Comments

Oddly, Cats, the natural enemy of birds, also have weird, jerky, almost robotic qualities to the way they move.

Anonymous 0 Comments

Oddly, Cats, the natural enemy of birds, also have weird, jerky, almost robotic qualities to the way they move.

Anonymous 0 Comments

Those are the ones that are suffering from addiction, bless their souls.

No, but really, the ones that tend to do that are typically lower on the food chain and they’re kinda on “look out for predator” mode by default, and switch between “oh, look, a snack!” mode and “oh, look, a potential mate!” mode the rest of the time. They have a really weird field of vision so they’re turning their heads constantly to see what’s around them. They’re like little balls of anxiety fueled by ADHD.

Anonymous 0 Comments

Those are the ones that are suffering from addiction, bless their souls.

No, but really, the ones that tend to do that are typically lower on the food chain and they’re kinda on “look out for predator” mode by default, and switch between “oh, look, a snack!” mode and “oh, look, a potential mate!” mode the rest of the time. They have a really weird field of vision so they’re turning their heads constantly to see what’s around them. They’re like little balls of anxiety fueled by ADHD.

Anonymous 0 Comments

Those are the ones that are suffering from addiction, bless their souls.

No, but really, the ones that tend to do that are typically lower on the food chain and they’re kinda on “look out for predator” mode by default, and switch between “oh, look, a snack!” mode and “oh, look, a potential mate!” mode the rest of the time. They have a really weird field of vision so they’re turning their heads constantly to see what’s around them. They’re like little balls of anxiety fueled by ADHD.

Anonymous 0 Comments

They dont in nature. In the 1960s the government replaced all the birds with drones that twitch and scan their surroundings. Its all part of the massive surveillance state. Wake up birds arent real.