How well can parrots see in the dark?

[yoelleoy]

So short story behind my question. Last night when I put my bird and myself to sleep everything went normally. In the middle of the night (around midnight) I heard him squak for a moment. He didn't continue so I thought he was fine. An hour later he really started a frantic panicking so I quickly got up to see what was wrong. He was frozen at the bottom of the cage, refusing to move, took me 30 min to calm him down and get him to his favourite sleeping perch.

What I THINK happened was that he fell down, and that he couldn't see his way back up. I am not sure though so thats why I am asking. I do also cover his cage with a towel and the room he sleeps in is completely dark.

He is fine now, but he was REALLY mad at me, the maddest I have ever seen him be before, for like 12 hours.

 

[clark_conure]

They don't really see as well as us, but if there's a nightlight or something I've noticed clark gets around ok. I know i can see better in almost total dark, (I'm sure he sees better than me in light). I'd think about a nightlight, not enough to interfere with sleep but enough to see a bit to get around, I use them in my bedroom and all throughout my house so I don't trip.

 

[LordTriggs]

a little night light isn't a bad idea, just to help them when something happens in the night. My worry would be as to what made your fid fall down

just wondering what bird you have? Some like Cockatiels are prone to night-frights. Essentially a nightmare but they wake in a blind panic

 

[yoelleoy]

a little night light isn't a bad idea, just to help them when something happens in the night. My worry would be as to what made your fid fall down

just wondering what bird you have? Some like Cockatiels are prone to night-frights. Essentially a nightmare but they wake in a blind panic

I have a rosy faced lovebird/agapornis. There was a loud storm during the night (no thunder, just rain and wind) which is pretty common here so I think he is used to it, might have been something else.

 

[clark_conure]

A night light in the corner maybe out of line of sight so it's just the reflected light might help out keeping his orientation None of my night lights "hit" my birds cage, they just add some reflected light so he can see around enough to get water or food or whatever. An ambiance....

 

[Scott]

My hunch is some parrots see reasonably well with little light. Three of my Goffins spend the night on a stand with nothing more than a bit of light peering through the blinds. They can fly to me when I walk in the room, or when one is pestering the other it flies to another area. Might also be their extreme familiarity with the room and knowing the location of each cage and stand.

 

[Kiwibird]

I would imagine their vision to be pretty poor in the dark. I know our bird becomes much more "docile" in low lighting conditions (i.e. we can pet him, put his harness on etc...). I think it is because he can't see well and has to trust us to keep him safe because he can't keep himself safe and doesn't feel his typical "bold" self. Our bird has never had night frights though.

If your bird is having night frights regularly, you could try a night light and only half covering the cage. If it only happen once, it may have just been a one off (heard an animal outside, a big truck drove by etc...) and I wouldn't bother adding a light

 

[wrench13]

Parrots do not see well in the dark, my vet told me the # of rods and cones in their eyes, but is orders less then ours

 

[ParrotLover2001]

I did a video on how birds see in dark. Although, I did it in a dimly lit room. They have very poor vision in darkness. Parrots have more cones than rods, they have very little rods making their vision poor in low light.

Sent from my Galaxy s8

 

[texsize]

I think it varies between species. My amazons see not to badly in dim conditions.
My Cockatiels are near blind in light we would consider just dim.
I always leave a light on in a room with a parrot.

 

[YUMgrinder]

When I work nights or at least get out work at night jazz beaks my arm the whole way home. "HAY I CANT SEE! WHOS ARM IS THIS?! Oh its just you, well shame on you cause I CANT SEE!"

 

[Crayfish066]

When I first let my indian ring neck out it was very chaotic and because
of this we had to grab him to put him back in his cage.

We completely failed at grabbing him until he ended up tripping the light
by swinging on it, at which point we managed to sneak up on him much more
easily.

It wasn't pitch black or anything, just a little bit dark. I'd guess their sight is
inferior to ours but I'm not sure.

 

[Parrotguru]

Parrots can see reasonably well in low lighting conditions, but their vision is not optimally suited for complete darkness. This is due to the composition of their retina, which contains specialized cells called rods and cones.
Rod Cells: Rod cells are responsible for detecting small quantities of light and aiding in night vision. They are highly sensitive to low levels of light and enable animals to navigate and detect movement in dark environments. However, parrots have relatively fewer rod cells compared to animals with superior night vision capabilities, such as cats.