Scholars@Duke
Vance A. Tucker

Vance A. Tucker

Professor Emeritus of Zoology
Biology
vtucker@duke.edu
Box 90338, Durham, NC 27708-0338
0032 Bio Sci Bldg, Durham, NC 27708

Selected Publications

The deep fovea, sideways vision and spiral flight paths in raptors.

Journal Article The Journal of experimental biology · December 2000 Raptors - falcons, hawks and eagles in this study - have two regions of the retina in each eye that are specialized for acute vision: the deep fovea and the shallow fovea. The line of sight of the deep fovea points forwards and approximately 45 degrees to ... Full text Cite

Curved flight paths and sideways vision in peregrine falcons (Falco peregrinus).

Journal Article The Journal of experimental biology · December 2000 When diving at prey straight ahead from great distances at high speeds, a peregrine has a conflict between vision and aerodynamics: it must turn its head approximately 40 degrees to one side to see the prey with maximum visual acuity at the deep fovea of o ... Full text Cite

Gliding flight: drag and torque of a hawk and a falcon with straight and turned heads, and a lower value for the parasite drag coefficient.

Journal Article The Journal of experimental biology · December 2000 Raptors - falcons, hawks and eagles in this study - such as peregrine falcons (Falco peregrinus) that attack distant prey from high-speed dives face a paradox. Anatomical and behavioral measurements show that raptors of many species must turn their heads a ... Full text Cite

Gliding flight: Drag and torque of a hawk and a falcon with straight and turned heads, and a lower value for the parasite drag coefficient

Journal Article Journal of Experimental Biology · December 1, 2000 Raptors - falcons, hawks and eagles in this study - such as peregrine falcons (Falco peregrinus) that attack distant prey from high-speed dives face a paradox. Anatomical and behavioral measurements show that raptors of many species must turn their heads a ... Cite

Curved flight paths and sideways vision in peregrine falcons (Falco peregrinus)

Journal Article Journal of Experimental Biology · December 1, 2000 When diving at prey straight ahead from great distances at high speeds, a peregrine has a conflict between vision and aerodynamics: it must turn its head approximately 40° to one side to see the prey with maximum visual acuity at the deep fovea of one eye, ... Cite

A 4 g, battery-powered, data logger accelerometer for free-flying birds

Journal Article Review of Scientific Instruments · January 1, 1999 This computer-controlled instrument has a battery life in excess of 16 h and fits on a circuit board that is 11.9 mm wide and 27.8 mm long. A programmable microcontroller digitizes the output of a single-axis accelerometer and stores up to 4096 acceleratio ... Full text Cite

Diving speeds and angles of a gyrfalcon (Falco rusticolus)

Journal Article The Journal of experimental biology · July 1998 An optical tracking device recorded the three-dimensional paths of 11 dives by a 1.02 kg gyrfalcon, trained to dive to a falconer. The dives started at altitudes up to 500 m above the ground and were inclined at angles of 17-62 degrees from the horizontal. ... Full text Cite

Using a collision model to design safer wind turbine rotors for birds

Journal Article Journal of Solar Energy Engineering, Transactions of the ASME · January 1, 1996 A mathematical model for collisions between birds and propellor-type turbine rotors identifies the variables that can be manipulated to reduce the probability that birds will collide with the rotor. This study defines a safety index—the “clearance power de ... Full text Cite

A mathematical model of bird collisions with wind turbine rotors

Journal Article Journal of Solar Energy Engineering, Transactions of the ASME · January 1, 1996 When a bird flies through the disk swept out by the blades of a wind turbine rotor, the probability of collision depends on the motions and dimensions of the bird and the blades. The collision model in this paper predicts the probability for birds that gli ... Full text Cite

An optical tracking device for recording the three-dimensional paths of flying birds

Journal Article Review of Scientific Instruments · December 1, 1995 This paper describes a portable tracking device (TD) that records sequential, three-dimensional positions of an object as it moves through space. The operator manually tracks the object through a tripod-mounted, optical rangefinder at ranges of 250 to 5,00 ... Full text Cite

Measuring aerodynamic interference drag between a bird body and the mounting strut of a drag balance

Journal Article Journal of Experimental Biology · December 13, 1990 Cite

Aerodynamics of gliding flight in a harris' hawk, Parabuteo unicinctus

Journal Article Journal of Experimental Biology · May 16, 1990 Cite

Ambiguities in stereopsis [4]

Journal Article Nature · January 1, 1989 Full text Cite

The energetic cost of moving about.

Journal Article American scientist · July 1975 Cite

Bird metabolism during flight: evaluation of a theory

Journal Article Journal of Experimental Biology · January 1, 1973 Pennycuick's theory for the energetic requrements of avian flight predicts the metabolic rates of budgerigars and laughing gulls flying level at intermediate speeds in a wind tunnel with an accuracy of 10% or better. However, its predictions appear to be l ... Cite

Respiration during flight in birds.

Journal Article Respiration physiology · March 1972 Full text Cite

Metabolism during flight in the laughing gull, Larus atricilla.

Journal Article The American journal of physiology · February 1972 Full text Cite

Flight energetics in birds

Journal Article Integrative and Comparative Biology · February 1, 1971 SYNOPSIS. Some birds can fly for more than 1000 kilometers without feeding. Are these distances compatible with the fuel reserves and the power requirements that flying birds are thought to have? The fuel for flight is primarily fat, which can make up 50% ... Full text Cite

Energetic cost of locomotion in animals.

Journal Article Comparative biochemistry and physiology · June 1970 Full text Cite

The energetics of bird flight.

Journal Article Scientific American · May 1969 Full text Cite

Wave-making by whirligig beetles (gyrinidae)

Journal Article Science · January 1, 1969 Swimming whirligig beetles (Dineutes carolinus) either make no waves at all or make conspicuous circular or vee-shaped patterns of capillary waves. The beetle's swimming speed can be determined from these wave patterns (or lack of them). Capillary waves pr ... Full text Cite

Respiratory physiology of house sparrows in relation to high-altitude flight.

Journal Article The Journal of experimental biology · February 1968 Full text Cite

Oxygen dissociation curve of echidna blood.

Journal Article Comparative biochemistry and physiology · January 1968 Full text Cite

Method for oxygen content and dissociation curves on microliter blood samples.

Journal Article Journal of applied physiology · September 1967 Full text Cite

Oxygen consumption of a flying bird

Journal Article Science · January 1, 1966 Budgerygahs (Melopsittacus undulatus) flew with a minimum oxygen consumption of 38 milliliters per gramhour at each of three speeds between 19 and 33 kilometers per hour in a recirculating wind tunnel. An oxygen debt accumulated in the first minute of flig ... Full text Cite

Diurnal torpidity in the California pocket mouse.

Journal Article Science (New York, N.Y.) · May 1962 The California pocket mouse, Perognathus californicus, compensates for food supplies which are less than the normal requirement by undergoing a variable period of daily torpor. At an ambient temperature of 15 degrees C, the body temperature of a torpid mou ... Full text Cite