Night eyes

[PaulieD]

I've gotten in the habit of wearing my headlamp when I let the dogs out at night. More often than I like, they get wind of something and give it chase. They always come back, but I'm anxious the entire time they're gone. My biggest concern is cars, but I'm also concerned that they are going to get in over their heads with a pack of coyotes.

So I go out, make a lot of noise, scan the field and woods for eyes, and keep an eye on the dogs and try to deter them if they start heading for the eyes.

Both of my dogs' eyes reflect a green light, and it appears to me that the deers' eyes reflect an orange/yellow light. Last night I saw one pair of green eyes out in the field (instead of the ussual two or thre sets of yellow/orange), so I assumed it was a dog or a coyote. I couldn't judge the size of the animal and when I tried to get closer it disappeared.

So here comes the question. Is the color of the reflection in a species eyes consistant for the species, or will it vary?

Thanks,

Paul

 

[Egon]

The deer eyes reflected that I have seen are nice white round reflectors. Our dog has red eyes when reflected.

 

[texasjohn]

Well, I've done a lot of headlighting....varments, etc..... I think that there is a little color difference between different critters, but I have never classified it, thus it must not be sufficiently consistent for me to use as certain identification.

My method of identification is to watch the behaviour of the critter and how it moves, along with the width between eyes, height above ground, etc. Each animal, to me, has a distinctive way of moving their head, body, etc... and this allows me to get about an 85% accurate identification within about 10 seconds of observation of eyes only.

It was IMPRESSED on me that when my 2 uncles were teenagers, they went hunting with their father and a group of several other teenagers. It was discovered that one of my uncles eyes REFLECTED light. They STOPPED the hunt immediately and dispatched him home with the admonition to NEVER go headlighting again.... he didn't. I've seen his eyes shine at night... but never another person's..... strange, but true!

 

[tallyho8]

I have done a lot of coonhunting at night with dogs and lights and learned a lot about animals eye reflections. When I shine a coon or possum, the eyes always look yellow to me. Rabbits eyes reflect red. Nutria eyes reflect red and alligator eyes reflect yellow. Most dogs eyes reflect green but dogs with different color eyes reflect different colors. Different species usually reflect different colors to an individual.
BUT.....I have been with different people many times and we sometimes disagree about the color of the eyes we are seeing. Looking at the same set of eyes one person will say they are yellow, one says they are red and one says they are orange or silver.

Oh, and human eyes reflect red, this is why you get "red eye" when using a flash.

 

[RoyJackson]

I've heard a Moose's eyes don't reflect...less chance of seeing them at night when you're doing 65 on the highway. That wouldn't be good. Maybe one of you New England guys can confirm that (about the nonreflectivity)


How's this for reflecting eyes...

 

[MrJimi]

If one of your concerns is cars, you will look funny but there are red flashing small lites for joggers and bicyclist and you could get a couple of them for the cars to see you better or just get some reflective material and wear it like a school crossing guard.
Be safe
Jim

 

[sawdust_maker]

I have done a lot of coonhunting at night with dogs and lights and learned a lot about animals eye reflections. When I shine a coon or possum, the eyes always look yellow to me. Rabbits eyes reflect red. Nutria eyes reflect red and alligator eyes reflect yellow. Most dogs eyes reflect green but dogs with different color eyes reflect different colors. Different species usually reflect different colors to an individual.
BUT.....I have been with different people many times and we sometimes disagree about the color of the eyes we are seeing. Looking at the same set of eyes one person will say they are yellow, one says they are red and one says they are orange or silver.

Oh, and human eyes reflect red, this is why you get "red eye" when using a flash.

Yes. Red eye is something on which Kodak and other companies like Adobe (Photoshop) have spent a lot of time. Its one reason why you would want to have the flash as far off to the side as possible when the subject is looking directly at you.

As for the apparent color changing by observer, I'll guess that this is observer metamerism.

http://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-metamerism.htm

John

 

[ToddW]

I would also wonder if the reflected color was in some part influenced by the wavelength of the illumination source ?

/Todd

 

[texasjohn]

sawdust_maker... you win a gold star.... answered definitavely the question with authorative and complete reference... AND added a $10 word to my vocabulary... metamerism

No wonder I haven't been using eye shine colors as definitive identification scheme

 

[Westonium]

I have 6 dogs, and I think the reflection breakdown is this (if memory serves): 3 are yellow to yellowy green, 2 are green, 1 is blue blue blue. The shar-pei/chocolate lab mix reflects blue.

The shar-pei/lab is otherwise the hardest to see in the dark with an all-dark coat, and no whites showing from his eyes most of the time.

My sheep all reflect yellow-green I think, and more telling - they are all together and not moving at night and will all look at the light. The Great Pyrenees will put itself between the light source and the sheep most of the time and will keep glancing at the light, but not stare.

I was camping once and a coyote came through. I heard the pat-pat-pat of something trotting through the forest before I saw it. It stared at me for as long as possible while going by. It wasn't afraid of me, and I had yet to learn that I should have thrown stuff at it and generally tried to put a little healthy fear in it.