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UltravioletPhotography

Hummingbird vision


Andy Perrin

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Andy Perrin

I don't know if people will be able to view the link, so please tell me if there is a problem.

 

TRUE COLORS

Science finds hummingbirds see ultraviolet light invisible to humans—the latest proof of animals’ use of powerful sensory tools.

There’s a vivid world beyond our senses that wildlife knows in ways humans cannot. A hummingbird sees colors that humans can only imagine. Elephants call to each other in bass rumbles too deep for human hearing. Bumblebees sense the electrical field of flowers ripe for pollination, while sea turtles feel the planet’s magnetic pull.

Wildlife biologists now are gathering direct evidence of a DayGlo realm that only many birds can see, through new experiments at the intersection of physics and behavior.

Working in the high alpine meadows of the Rocky Mountains, scientists for the first time proved that wild hummingbirds can see ultraviolet light in colors invisible to humans. Researchers led by sensory ecologist Mary Caswell Stoddard at Princeton University tested wild broad-tailed hummingbirds in their natural setting and clearly showed the birds use their ultraviolet vision to forage for food.

http://ereader.wsj.net/?publink=1d50aebb0_134372e&fbclid=IwAR3At1kS_Vk33xTaLbhH2bgJioiBA0Lbi_XOOZrrxCea_vM4Z8Q_PG6Y3v0

 

$10,000 a filter! Nobody can complain about Schott glass now.

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I think the $10K filters are likely bespoke one-off jobs tailored to simulate the channels of the bird's vision, with four source images possibly combined into a final product(?) One does wonder if there might have been cheaper ways to do it, but I defer to the researcher's judgment.
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Andy Perrin

The link doesn't work for me. The error is: "Unknown Share ID".

It's Wall Street Journal, sent to me by my father (who has the subscription). It's possible it will only work for me. You can search for the article title and if you have another means to view the WSJ, you can read it that way. I'm uncomfortable posting the full text due to the obvious copyright issue.

 

Here is another article about the same group:

https://newatlas.com/bird-vision-camera/58177/

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It says each of the four filters to simulate color cost $10000. I would say someone pocketed some cash there.

https://www.princeton.edu/news/2020/06/15/wild-hummingbirds-see-broad-range-colors-humans-can-only-imagine

 

That spectral figure does not convince me that these are expensive tight band pass filters.

I made the same filter set placing lee gels over SvBony 1.25" UV/IR cut off filters for my wheel mounted to my microscope.

I have a more blue peak at 450nm using a Lee 713, but my green and red peaks look similar.

There UV cone filter is like a B410, not a BaaderU. Or could be a BG12.

 

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