35 Thick, long beak Elongated beak for reaching buried food Sensitive tip detects buried animals Snipe Sensitive beaks Long-billed birds such as the snipe have sensitive receptors on the tip of the beak. When a wading bird probes into deep mud with its beak, it can actually feel what is below it. Feeling for food Nightjars have bristles at either side of their mouths, which may help them to feel for food. Forward-pointing eye socket for binocular vision Owl skull Ear cavity Cranium The ears Owls hunt by night. For this reason, an owl needs acute vision and hearing. Their left and right ears are often at different levels in the skull. Each ear catches a sound at a slightly different time, giving improved “binaural” hearing, which the owl uses to pinpoint its prey. Hooked beak Owl skull Hunting in darkness Some owls hunt in complete darkness, using their ears to locate prey. Higher ear cavity Lower ear cavity Forward binocular vision Monocular vision Monocular vision Wader Rear binocular vision allows bird to see enemies approaching from behind Bird vision Most hunting birds can assess distances with great accuracy. Owls’ eyes point almost directly forward, giving a wide field of binocular vision. Although they cannot swivel their eyeballs, they can turn their necks to point backwards. Birds that are themselves hunted tend to have eyes that point in opposite directions. Most waders, for example, have sideways-facing eyes, which allows them a view of 360 degrees. Monocular vision Owl Monocular vision Binocular vision Gabrielle Nevitt US ecologist Dr Gabrielle Nevitt’s research focuses on marine animals including seabirds such as petrels. She analyses them to understand how these birds use their sense of smell to find food in the ocean as well as tell each other apart in crowded breeding colonies. EYEWITNESS