How can you tell if a bird is blind, or partially blind?

Question

Can you tell by looking at their eyes? He can see, but every time he flies outside of his cage, he can't steer, or he doesn't see the wall. I don't want him to get a concussion. It's a lovebird, and his wings are clipped. Why won't he steer himself?

Answer 1

if his wings are clipped he will be able to flap around, but not fly gracefully or steer himself.
also even if the wings were were not clipped, many birds that don't fly around on a regular basis are clumsy (besides there are lots of dangers if they fly free --mirrors, windows, open doors, toilets, hot stoves, candles, ceiling fans, other pets ect)
If you want to test if the bird can see you can try the menace response. Move a finger towards the birds eye and see if it blinks. (normally in dogs and cats you move your hand towards each eye one at a time, the bird having a good range of vision, i don't know if you can test each eye individually, also when doing this try not to create airflow with your hands or fingers, because the animal may feel this and still blink even if it can't see)
Also, do the pupils respond to light. try shining a penlight in the eyes.

Answer 2

Have him taken to a certified avian vet to get his eyes checked. Totally blind birds typically have a glossy appearance (from my experience, at least). Lovebird eyes are usually very dark, so having a light, gloss colour definitely means something is different.

Bad steering could be because of a bad wing clip. If the wings are clipped unevenly, improperly, too short, or as a hack job, the bird won't be able to fly properly either and maneuvering becomes 200 times more difficult. Again, if you take him to see a certified avian vet, they can not only run health checks on him for his eye sight and to see if there is any damage from hitting objects, but to manage his wing clip.

Answer 3

Flying with clipped wings is just like when you're watching COPS and the bad guy drives over the spike strips and has no tires left... Sure, you could drive the car, but it doesn't work right at all. If you intend to let him fly, grow those feathers out and he'll gain control. I don't think it's a vision problem.