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How does the whooping crane see?

The whooping crane (Grus americana) is a bird in the order Gruiformes. Its eyes belong to the vision type Panoramic grain-eater and wader.

Measured in this species: colour and night vision. Measured colour or sharpness: a measured receptor set or acuity in this species; other dials come from relatives or group defaults. Every value below carries its evidence level and sources; nothing is typed by hand.

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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 whooping crane (Grus americana), catalogue-v1
DialValueEvidenceSources
ColourColour receptors
4 receptor classes: 404 nm (VS/SWS (violet)), 450 nm (SWS (blue)), 499 nm (MWS (green)), 561 nm (LWS (long))
measured in this species
Measured[1]
SharpnessAcuity
17.29 cycles per degree
allometry (Aves): log10(acuity_cpd) = intercept + slope * log10(eye_axial_length_mm); slope 0.9017, intercept 0.1397, R2 0.453, n 99 (fitted in this script; fitted range [4.36, 39.81] mm); eye_axial_length_mm 16.51 mm
Estimated[2]
Field of viewBinocular overlap
34°
median of 1 relatives in order Gruiformes: Gallinula chloropus
Group default[3]
Total field of view
338°
group default: median total field of vision type V10 within phylum Chordata in species-v1: Columba livia, Scolopax minor
Group default[4][5]
Sharp zones (foveas)Number of foveas
1
median of 48 relatives in class Aves: Branta canadensis, Cardinalis cardinalis, Passerina cyanea, Zenaida macroura, Cyanocitta cristata, Junco hyemalis
Group default[6][7][8]
Fovea type
single central fovea (displaced dorso-temporally from retinal centre)		Group default[6][7][8]
Night visionActivity pattern
diurnal
mode of 3 rows (of 3 rows): diurnal; not_nocturnal
Measured (not re-verified)[9][10][11]
Rods vs cones
cone-dominated
nocturnal -> rod-dominated; crepuscular / cathemeral / mixed -> mixed; diurnal -> cone-dominated
Derived[9][10][11]
Motion (flicker fusion)Flicker fusion frequency
88.5 Hz
median of 17 relatives in class Aves: Bubo virginianus, Melopsittacus undulatus, Passer domesticus, Taeniopygia guttata, Columba livia, Calypte anna
Group default[12][13][14][15][16]

Related animals

More birds: all birds with measured vision data.

Sources

  1. Frazer SA, Baghalian M, et al. 2024. Discovering genotype-phenotype relationships with machine learning and the Visual Physiology Opsin Database (VPOD). GigaScience 13:giae073; VPOD v1.3 data release. doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.19051998
  2. Vertebrate eye-size compilation in Thomas et al. 2020 Dryad deposit (Thomas_vertebrates.csv). Primary sources: Howland et al. 2004 (n=313); Schmitz & Wainwright 2011 (n=265); Schmitz et al. 2013 (n=237); Hall 2008 (n=116); Veilleux & Kirk 2014 (n=91); Hall & Heesy 2011 (n=88); Liu et al. 2012 (n=66); Werner & Seifan 2006 (n=62); Lisney & Collin 2007 (n=46). doi.org/10.5061/dryad.1zcrjdfq7
  3. Vision and foraging in structurally complex habitats: common moorhens (Gallinula chloropus). Ecology and Evolution 2026, e74060.. doi.org/10.1002/ece3.74060
  4. species_v1:Martin & Young 1983
  5. species_v1:Martin 1994
  6. Moore BA, Tyrrell LP, Pita D, Bininda-Emonds ORP, Fernandez-Juricic E 2017. Does retinal configuration make the head and eyes of foveate birds move? Sci Rep 7: 38406. Appendix 1.. doi.org/10.1038/srep38406
  7. Potier S, Mitkus M, Bonadonna F, Duriez O, Isard P-F, Dulaurent T, Mentek M, Kelber A 2017. Eye size, fovea, and foraging ecology in accipitriform raptors. Brain Behav Evol 90: 232-242. Supplementary material (Tables S1, S2).. doi.org/10.1159/000479783
  8. Rodrigues T, Matter MM, Chiodini A, et al. 2026. Foveal vision in fast-flying birds hunting on the wing. bioRxiv 2026.06.05.730304. doi.org/10.64898/2026.06.05.730304
  9. Light conditions and the evolution of the visual system in birds (figshare dataset, SupplementaryDataset1). doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.22116371.v3
  10. 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
  11. 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
  12. Boström JE, Dimitrova M, Canton C, Håstad O, Qvarnström A, Ödeen A. 2016. Ultra-rapid vision in birds. PLoS ONE 11(3): e0151099. S1 Table. doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0151099
  13. Haarlem CS, Hynes C, Jackson AL, Mitchell KJ, O'Connell RG, Healy K. 2026. Pace of ecology drives the tempo of visual perception across the animal kingdom. Nature Ecology & Evolution (doi:10.1038/s41559-026-02994-7). Figshare dataset 10.6084/m9.figshare.30556475. doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.30556475
  14. 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
  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
  16. 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

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