What the Birds Are Doing
Why a bird doubles in size on a cold morning, where it goes at night and in a storm, who wins when two of them want the same perch, and whether it knows your face. The questions a feeder raises that are not about the feeder.
A feeder is a window onto a small number of birds doing the same things over and over, and the questions it raises stop being about equipment fairly quickly. Why is that cardinal round this morning and sleek this afternoon. Where did all of them go before the storm, and where were they last night. Why does the goldfinch flock give way to one small woodpecker.
These pages answer that kind of question from published research rather than from watching, which is the standing rule everywhere on this site. The work behind them belongs to other people: Cornell and Audubon on roosting and insulation, Project FeederWatch data on which species displace which, a University of Washington biologist in a caveman mask on whether a crow can learn a human face.
One thing this cluster has more of than the rest of the site is unfinished answers. Several of these pages end by naming what nobody has established yet: whether the birds at a seed feeder recognize the person filling it, why sociable species lose fights they should win, what a puffed bird is doing when the weather is mild. Where the evidence stops, the article stops, and says so.
Why Do Birds Puff Up?
Why do birds puff up? Trapped air between feathers, not fear or hunger. A puffed cardinal at your feeder in winter is staying warm, not starving.
6 min readWhere Do Birds Sleep at Night?
Where do birds sleep at night: in roost sites, not nests. Nests are only used for eggs and young. What cavity birds, woodpeckers, and crows do instead.
7 min readBird Feeder Pecking Order: Why Birds Chase Each Other
The bird feeder pecking order is measurable, not random. Size predicts most of it, but the flocking species lose one-on-one, which surprised the researchers.
8 min readDo Birds Recognize Humans?
Do birds recognize humans? Crows remember a face for over a decade and tell others. Mockingbirds do it too. What that does not tell you about your chickadees.
8 min readWhere Do Birds Go During a Storm?
Where do birds go during a storm: into microhabitats a few feet away, not somewhere else. Why your feeder gets crowded in the hours before the weather arrives.
7 min readWhy Is a Bird Pecking at My Window? It Is Fighting Its Own Reflection
Why is a bird pecking at my window? It is attacking its own reflection. Why cardinals do it all year, and why covering one window rarely ends it.
9 min readWhy Is a Woodpecker Pecking My House?
Why is a woodpecker pecking my house: the hole pattern tells you which of four behaviors it is. A neat row of holes usually means bees, not termites.
9 min readWhy Do Birds Go Bald?
Why do birds go bald: usually a late-summer molt that drops the head feathers at once. One skin-color check separates the normal case from an ailment.
8 min read