Check out the nictitating membranes!

If you had to make your living in a desert, or under water, or by sticking your head into a rotting carcass to get your food, you’d probably appreciate a handy combo of goggles and windshield wipers.

And that’s what many creatures, including Turkey Vultures, have.

But instead of using the awkward term “combo-goggles-windshield-wipers,” we use the sleek and easy to remember name, “nictitating membranes.”

Uh huh!

Nictitating membranes are also called third eyelids, and are often translucent, so the eyes get protection while allowing some vision.

Sometimes these thin membranes rest under the lower eyelid, and rise from there, but more often, they are tucked into the corners of the eyes nearest the nose, and move back toward the sides of the head when in operation.

It can be unnerving the first time you see them in motion, a space-alien moment. But when the membrane is closed, it often just looks like a gray or white eyelid.

Here’s a Turkey Vulture doing a demo for you!

First picture, nictitating membrane is open, and in the second, the translucent membrane is covering the eye.

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