How do Birds Stay Warm in the Snow?

Learn all about bird's abilities to stay warm in the snow! You may have wondered, "How do birds not get cold?" In this video, you will learn about the amazing ways in which a bird can create and retain heat inside of its body.
All of these bird videos were filmed on my Canon R5 C camera during these last two weeks. The recent polar vortex brought 12 inches of snow and I had wonderful opportunities to film birds in the snow.
Learn About Bird Calls: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PL1xMWLOmPPt0ksJq6rhnh-cAYHv8iKTdo&si=baxdIB7EU-fwXoh4


Transcript: How do birds stay warm in the snow? With this recent polar vortex bringing a foot of snow to Norther n Kentucky, people have been asking me, “How do birds’ feet stay warm in the snow?” “How do they not freeze to death?” Well there’s 4 different mechanisms at play that keep birds warm. The first mechanism is their internal body temperature. Chickadees have an internal body temperature of 107-109 degrees (F). Their heart rate is what sustains this. The smaller the bird, the higher the heart rate. Chickadees have a heart rate of 600-800bpm while at rest, and it can get higher during activity. Larger birds like Blue Jays, Robins, Cardinals, they only have a heart rate of around 350-400bpm while at rest. Even larger birds like Canada Geese, Swans, their heart rate is only about 150-200bpm. Well anyways, the higher the heart rate, the more heat you can create inside your body. But then you have to retain that heat, and there’s 2 different ways that they retain their heat. They have an outer layer of contour feathers. That would be kind of like my coat, except for their contour feathers are water resistant. They can keep water from actually reaching inside. Then they have a second layer of feathers underneath the contour feathers. These are known as the Down feathers. You’ve probably heard about these. People have been using down feathers for blankets and pillows. But they’re extremely effective at retaining heat, especially for how thin and lightweight they are. With two different layers of feathers, their internal body temperature can be retained. But then there’s their feet. I’m standing in snow right now. If I had bare feet and I was standing in snow, my heart would have to dedicate a lot more blood to my feet to keep them warm and that would be wasteful of energy. Birds avoid this. They reduce the amount of blood flowing to their feet when they are standing in the snow. Additionally, their feet have hardly any nerve tissue compared to ours. They’re also covered in scales like their dinosaur ancestors. As a result, their feet just simply do not get cold. They get a little cold but they’re not anything like our feet. Hello Carolina Wren! You can hear a Carolina Wren duet right now, there’s the male singing his song and the female going “BRRRRRRRR!” To add to their feet, they have what’s called a Counter Current Heat Exchange system, which is where their veins and arteries are really close to each other. The hot blood being carried down to their feet travels very closely to the cold blood being carried back to the heart. This warms up the cold blood so that when it reaches their heart and other parts of their body it does not chill them. This keeps the internal body temperature and the blood much hotter on average. They also have the ability to expand their feathers. They puff up. You’ve probably seen this, when birds are cold they puff up. It expands the amount of air they can trap. Feathers are far more effective at retaining heat than animal fur. Fur retains heat by trapping air inside the fur. But when water gets inside of their fur, there’s no more air and they can’t retain heat. Birds avoid this by having waterproof feathers like we discussed before. So in review, birds can not only create more heat by having an exponentially higher heart rate than humans, but they can retain that heat with their contour feathers, down feathers, their scaled-feet, they can prevent their blood from cooling down with their Counter Current Heat Exchange system, and they can increase the amount of air pockets in their feathers by puffing up. It may seem sad to see a bird outside on a cold day, but they were designed for this weather and they sued to be dinosaurs after all. Thanks for watching! I hope you enjoyed this video. IF you have any more questions about birds, feel free to ask and I might make a video about it!