Scott explains how the year round residents of your bird feeder keep from freezing in the winter months.
As cold as we may get in winter, have you ever wondered how birds stay warm? While they do have feathers, which are renowned for their insulating properties, birds are small and don’t have the nearly the same amount of body fat that insulates us mammals from the cold.
Although birds don’t have thick layers of fat, they do add small amounts that help them to survive in the short-term. In winter, birds do have more fat on them than in summer, but it isn’t very much more, or they couldn’t fly. Every day, they add minute amounts to their bodies, to fuel them through the long, cold winter nights. Or night, I should say, because most birds have is just enough to get them through one night or two at most. To manage this, they have to eat constantly during the day.
Birds must also find adequate shelter. Grouse burrow into the snow and stay there for extended periods, insulated from the cold. But most birds survive by tucking their legs under them, finding a spot out of the wind in dense vegetation, and shivering.
Yep, I said shivering. Many birds shiver to keep their body temperatures at their usual levels. Chickadees however, control their shivering so they gradually reduce their body temperature, a form of controlled hypothermia, if you will. By lowering the body temperature they conserve energy, much in the same way that you reduce the amount of fuel you use when you turn down your thermostat before you go to bed.
