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Do Birds Get Cold?

Do Birds Get Cold?

February 3, 2025

While many of us are taught from a young age that birds fly South for the winter, up to 25% of North American birds bear the brunt of the harsh winter weather.  Despite their small size and light weight, many species of birds have found ways to adapt to cold climates. 

Fluffy feathers and a special oil coating allow many birds to brave the harshest storms.  They will even tuck their legs and beaks into their feathers to keep them warm.  (There’s a reason we’ve used goose feathers to fill downy pillows and jackets!)

Like humans, birds can shiver to stay warm.  However, due to their higher metabolic rate, birds can burn more energy than we do to keep their core temperature up.  For example, Black-capped chickadees, despite weighing less than half an ounce, can maintain a body temperature of 100 degrees Fahrenheit – even when the air is zero degrees! 

Birds even like a nice cuddle.  Many birds will crowd together in shrubs, tree cavities, and nesting boxes.  This helps them conserve energy and find protection from predators.

To maintain their energy needs to make it through the winter, birds need a high fat diet.  You can help by providing them with suet feeders, peanut butter, and sunflower seeds.  Birds also need water year-round.  A heated bird bath is ideal if you can provide one.  Roosting boxes can help keep birds warm or, after cleaning them out in the Fall, you can rehang bird houses for birds to reuse in the cold weather.

For more information about Pennsylvania birds, check out the following Lackawanna County Library System resources:

Birds of Pennsylvania: a field guide by Stan Tekiela

Birds of Pennsylvania: a field guide by Stan Tekiela (Audiobook)

Slow Birding: the art and science of enjoying the birds in your own backyard by Joan Strassmann

Outwitting Squirrels: 101 cunning stratagems to reduce dramatically the egregious misappropriation of seed from your birdfeeder by squirrels by Bill Alder Jr.

Source: How do birds keep warm in the winter? | U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service. (n.d.). FWS.gov. https://www.fws.gov/story/how-do-birds-keep-warm-winter