Birds of Winter: The Tricks of Keeping Warm in Winter

Birds have fascinating evolutionary strategies to survive the winter.  Surviving the winter is all about energy. Learn about the adaptations that birds use to keep warm during sub-zero nights and long cold winters from their built in down jackets, to shivering, to oil glands, to warming circulatory pathways called counter-current exchange. 

Photo: Black-billed Magpie (Pica pica) in snowstorm keeping warm with the help of excellent winter adaptations. Telluride. Photo Credit: Randy Stephens 2016.