Birds who use light, not magnetic fields, to migrate

Wired.com: A cell in the eye may be worth two in the beak, at least when it comes to a migratory bird's magnetic compass.

In European robins (right image), a visual center in the brain and light-sensing cells in the eye—not magnetic sensing cells in the beak—allow the songbirds to sense which direction is north and migrate correctly, a new study finds. The study published in Nature, may improve conservation efforts for migratory birds.

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Visual but not trigeminal mediation of magnetic compass information in a migratory bird