There are some amazing videos online, of Kingfishers holding their heads perfectly steady, while their perch is being pushed around by the wind. Here's a link to one of them:

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/YpIm39GHeLw

-;
Nagi Aboulenein


> On Saturday, Jul 27, 2024 at 16:44, Dennis Paulson via Tweeters <tweeters at u.washington.edu (mailto:tweeters at u.washington.edu)> wrote:

> Jim, it seems to me that birds are able to do that, hold their heads steady as they move their bodies in different positions. That long, flexible neck facilitates that greatly. Watch a coot or pigeon moving and note their bobbing head. They are holding their head still, presumably for better vision, as the body moves under it.

>

> Dennis Paulson

> Seattle

>

> > On Jul 27, 2024, at 12:41 PM, Jim Betz via Tweeters <tweeters at u.washington.edu> wrote:

> >

> > Hi,

> >

> > I've gone to Channel Drive (near La Conner) several times this week. I was attempting to

> >

> > get a picture of a swallow in flight and although a barely useful image it does show

> >

> > something I didn't know about. The swallow was making one of those tight, horizontal

> >

> > turns. The wings, tail, and body were all turned almost 90 degrees (think "vertical").

> >

> > But the HEAD was still locked in the normal/horizontal orientation. A subsequent

> >

> > photo of a flock of Western Sandpipers showed the same thing. Perhaps this is a

> >

> > common bird behavior that I just haven't noticed before? Fun!!! - Jim

> >

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