You may have guessed that the inspiration for our name came from a bird’s eye view, and being in the art of unpacking measurements (metrics), we named our company Birds Eye Metrics.
But what is in a name? This is what Google’s lookup has to say:
bird’s-eye view
noun
unpunctuated: birds-eye view
a general view from above.
“at this vantage point it’s possible to have a bird’s-eye view”
In other words, viewing from above, in such a way that what really matters stands out most.
Here are some interesting facts about the eyes of birds:
Large eyes
Birds have the largest eyes relative to their size in the animal kingdom.They are also noted for the number connections from the eye to the brain
Hyper colour vision
Birds have four types of colour receptor cells in their eyes, making them tetrachromats. That is, they mix 4 primary colours to create a colour image. Humans with normal colour vision are trichromats, as are, to a lesser extent, most “colour blind” humans as well. We use three primary colours. Pigeons are probably pentachromatic (5 primary colours). From a bird’s point of view, our colour vision must be severely impaired.
A large number of birds can see ultra violet light, and consequently, some of the plummage colours are in the ultra violet spectrum. (Perhaps the joke is on us for disregarding that little grey bird?).
There’s more
There is some evidence that migratory birds can perceive the earth’s magnetic field with their eyes.
With the ability to resolve movement at more than 100Mhz, that new TV set that refreshes at twice the rate that we can perceive, will still not cut it for those birds.The only thing cutting edge (to them) about your fancy TV set, as that they would be cutting the edges of themselves if the were to use that technology to fly through branches
What makes a bird?
Not all birds can fly, but it seems all birds have good eyesight, unlike mammals, reptiles or fish. A pigeon has been described as eyes with wings. Ever wondered how throwing some tiny seeds onto your lawn can draw crowds of pigeons?
An American Kestrel (presumably other similar birds of prey) can reportedly see a 2mm insect from the top of an 18m tree. The luxury of a high vantage point, if it has to have meaning, does not preclude the ability to focus.
Applying what we know about the bird’s eye
Birds don’t have teeth, and they don’t have strong bodily armour. Their jaws are weak compared to other animals. The bird’s weapon is maximising the use of the strongest of it’s senses.
At Birds Eye Metrics, our philosophy is to use an organisation’s senses, the available measurements, and get the maximum use out of these. This can be done by providing context, cleverly combining measurements between sub systems. Finally, this must be served with just the right amount of detail so that nothing important is lost in the final image, yet without presenting distracting details.
For us humans, that is after all what we mean when we talk about a bird’s eye view.