Brightness cues affect gap negotiation behaviour in zebra finches

Flying animals have had to evolve robust and effective guidance strategies for dealing with habitat clutter. Birds and insects use optic flow cues to sense and avoid obstacles, but orchid bees have also been shown to use brightness cues during gap negotiation. Brightness cues might therefore be of general importance in structuring visually guided flight. To test the hypothesis that brightness cues affect gap negotiation behaviours in birds, we presented captive zebra finches Taeniopygia guttata with a symmetric or asymmetric background brightness distribution on the other side of a tunnel. The background brightness conditions influenced both the birds’ decision to enter the tunnel aperture, and their flight direction upon exit. Zebra finches were more likely to initiate flight through the tunnel if they could see a bright background through it; they were also more likely to fly to the bright side upon exiting. We found no evidence of the centring response that would be expected if optic flow cues were balanced bilaterally during gap negotiation. Instead, the birds entered the tunnel by targeting a clearance of approximately one wing length from its near edge. Brightness cues therefore affect how zebra finches structure their flight when negotiating gaps in enclosed environments.