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Story: Bird migration

Silvereye

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Silvereye

Studies of silvereyes by ornithologist Wolfgang Wiltschko and others have found that the birds appear to see magnetic fields as a faint colour gradient, indicating the local intensity and direction of the field.

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Department of Conservation

Reference: 10048713

by Peter Reese

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How to cite this page

Christina Troup, Bird migration – Navigation and the magnetic field, Te Ara – the Encyclopedia of New Zealand, https://teara.govt.nz/en/photograph/7244/silvereye (accessed 4 June 2026).

Story by Christina Troup, published 2 March 2009.