What does “eagle-eyed” really mean?

If you’ve ever been to the top of a very tall building, you might have looked down at the tiny people below and wondered who they might be. But if an eagle looked down at those same people, it would be able to see their faces! Eagles have incredible eyesight.

Part of what makes an eagle’s eyes so keen is the size of them. If our eyes took up as much space in our heads as an eagle’s does, our eyes would be as big as oranges! In fact, they’re so big that there isn’t room in an eagle’s skull for the muscles that let us move our eyes around in our heads. Eagles can barely move their eyes at all. To make up for it, they have extremely flexible necks that let them turn their heads 270º.

Try this: turn your head toward your right shoulder and see how far you can go. Most people can turn their heads just past their shoulder, or just over 90°. If you were an eagle, you wouldn’t stop turning your head until you were looking over your left shoulder!

These big eyes mean that an eagle’s eyesight is much better than ours. They can see twice as far as we can, and their vision is six times sharper. An eagle can even spot a rabbit from two miles away! That’s why people will compliment someone with good eyesight by calling them “eagle-eyed”. It’s quite a compliment!