The perimeter revealed that a vulture’s visual field covers the space on either side of its head but has large blind spots above and below. When it flies, it tilts its head downward, so its blind spot is now directly ahead of it. This is why vultures crash into wind turbines: While soaring, they aren’t looking at what is right in front of them. For most of their history, they never had to. “Vultures would never have encountered an object so high and large in their flight path,” Martin says. It might work to turn off the turbines if the birds are near, or to lure the vultures away using
...more
