I was driving along in the car on State Highway 1 and saw a hawk gliding in the sky. It was so high up and it got me thinking...

Can they see us?

Do we look like little ants scurrying around to them?

Would it see me in black and white only or can it see colour?

Anyhow, the questions wouldn't go away so I started researching. I found a book in the U.S.A. that had looked at animal eye sight but it didn't actually show what they could see.

Then, it was like a light came on - what if I wrote a book about birds' eyesight and actually showed what they
could see.

Well, that started a whole set of things in action.

My friend Gillian Torckler said she was sure her husband could take the photographs. She also suggested I asked someone famous like Geoff Moon to contribute his bird pictures.

Then I researched books, journals, websites and found there was this expert in the U.K. who actually studied how wide birds' vision was. So I emailed him. I had to wait a day for his reply each time because we're twelve hours apart. He was very generous with his information and had been to New Zealand several times to research the kiwi and blue duck.