Saw I think it was a smarter every Day video on how birds doing this is effectively the same as our eyes being able to stay locked onto moving objects, but birds don’t have this ability, so they keep their whole head stationary when moving their body. That’s why most birds do that thing when they walk where they head has the jerky movement, while the body walks smoothly.
First, raptor eyes are large. They are so large they fill about 1/3 of the space in their skulls. Because this leaves little room, if any, for muscles to allow eye movements, raptors must turn their entire head to look around them. In fact, raptor eyes are held in place with a ring of bone called the sclerotic ring.
A lot of birds do that - they can keep their head steady to focus on prey while their body moves around.
Saw I think it was a smarter every Day video on how birds doing this is effectively the same as our eyes being able to stay locked onto moving objects, but birds don’t have this ability, so they keep their whole head stationary when moving their body. That’s why most birds do that thing when they walk where they head has the jerky movement, while the body walks smoothly.
Interesting, didn’t know the reason for it!