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SARAH RICHTER/FLICKR CC-BYNCND2
A house finch is doing its best to ruffle its feathers against the chill.
SHIVERING
Just like people, birds will shiver to stay warm. Birds have much high-
er metabolic rates and burn more energy to stay warm than people do.
Black-capped chickadees weigh less than a half-ounce and can main-
tain a body temperature of 100 degrees F even when the air tempera-
ture is zero! They do
this by having great
insulation, being very
active, and remem-
bering where they HERSHELLIA HILLIER/READERS' PHOTO SHOWCASE 2015
KITTY CROMWELL/READERS' PHOTO SHOWCASE 2016
store their food.
A steady supply
of food is essential,
because chickadees
eat more than 35% of
their weight every day!
Compared to many
other birds, chicka-
dees have a large hip-
pocampus, which is
the part of the brain
that’s responsible for
spatial memory. In the
fall, that part of the
chickadee’s brain gets
Male and female northern cardinals shiver in the middle of
even bigger! an ice storm.
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