Så kom der nogle flotte tykfjerede Lapmejser på Netfugl. Tillykke med de fine billeder...også til Eigil.

Ja, PETER,
og se alternative farver, halsplet m.m. på
HELGEs Inari foto d. 10 marts!

Ovenstående er en dunet hjerteknuser,
med LILLE-bitte øje og næb,
tilsyneladende (ligesom Elefantunger og Katte)
mest optaget af: Sig selv!

Tak ............. C.

Jeg tillader mig lige at klappe med :-)
Til dato det bedste Lapmejse billede jeg har set.

Tak skal I have. Fuglen var meget tillidsfuld, på et tidpunkt satte den sig på Eigil's linse og kiggede ham i øjenene...

Food for Thought ?
********************

Exciting that two small, extremely Northern,
mainly Non-migratory(!) passerines - i.e. the above
Grey-headed C. and Arctic Redpoll - have MINI,
pinhead-sized eyes,
compared to closely related species in temperate
zones, w/ wider eyes.

QUESTIONS :

# 1.
Similar feature in other Northern/(sub)arctic,
stationary or migratory, smaller passerine species?

# 2.
The winter season is quite DARK around the top
of the Earth.
So one miiiight expect LARGER eyes up there??
- i.e. like passerines living on shaded forest floors,
or Owls and Nightjars?

Any explanation or hypotheses on WHY some Northern
passerines got SMALLER eyes??
_______________________

P.S. for further stimulation:

Some arctic (original) HUMAN populations have less
open eyes, than populations further South.

SEALs have (appealing!) wide eyes, whereas WHALES - frequently hunting at extreme, DARK depths -
relatively, have MINI-eyes like Rhinos & Elefants.

NB: Members of Seal/Whale families operate in
both cold & warm waters.
_____________________________

Kindly feel free to speculate and comment.

Yours ............ C.

Carsten,

Lapmejsen øjne er ikke spor mindre end Sump-og Fyrremejsens.
Det er blot et optisk bedrag, hovedet ser nemlig større ud pga. de lange og fyldige fjer. En tilpasning til hårdt klima.
Jeg tror bestemt det samme gælder Gråsisken/Hvidsisken.

Mvh.
Peter

Interesting, as stated by PETER, that eyes of Grey-
headed C. are not smaller than those of Marsh and
Willow, but may appear so due to heavier plumage
(due to harsh climate) making Grey-headed's head
appear large, and eyes ('optically') smaller.

I may add that the diameter of the eye-ball of
Eskimo or Asian people is probably of the same size
as other people's with same cranium size.

But due to the socalled Mongolian (epicanthic) fold,
Asian eyes may appear narrower or smaller.

Thanks PETER ................ C.