Evidence that birds sleep in mid-flight

Re:Evidence that birds sleep in mid-flight by dmcginty on Thursday October 27, 2016 @02:41PM (#12808109)

I've had several pet birds and I've observed the same thing from them. I just assumed they were just pretending to sleep.

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Re:Evidence that birds sleep in mid-flight by yareally on Thursday October 27, 2016 @04:53PM (#12809993)

Your comment made me wonder how common it is with birds and it seems to be trait shared with all of them[1]. Pretty interesting. I asked my friend if her bird does that and it only seems to when it's not in a deep sleep yet, but eventually it will close both eyes.

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unihemispheric_slow-wave_sleep

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Re:Evidence that birds sleep in mid-flight by throwaway98764 on Thursday October 27, 2016 @07:26PM (#12811385)

Gives a new meaning to the term, "sleep with one eye open at night." :)

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Re:Evidence that birds sleep in mid-flight by glandium on Thursday October 27, 2016 @08:28PM (#12811764)

Let me venture a guess: that expression comes exactly from observing animals keeping one eye open.

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