Birds

There’s No Place Like HomeEven at 40 Below

A bird’s guide to surviving the Arctic winter

U.S.Fish&Wildlife Alaska
6 min readNov 14, 2021
A small black and white bird standing on a tree branch and surrounded by snow.
A Black-capped Chickadee in the snow. 📷 USFWS/Zak Pohlen

Should I stay or should I go?

Surviving the winter at high latitudes requires endurance, tenacity and some brains! Not all birds that breed in the Arctic choose to migrate to warmer climates in the fall — some prefer to stay right where they are!

A snowy landscape at sunset.
A January sunset in Southcentral Alaska. 📷 USFWS/Laura McDuffie
A small gray bird standing in water.
American Dipper (Cinclus mexicanus) are North America’s only true aquatic songbird. They forage for aquatic invertebrates year-round, even when the streams are mostly covered in ice 📷 Nick Hajdukovich/Macaulay Library at Cornell Lab (ML312580751).

A resident species of bird is one that does not migrate, but spends a full year in the same location. Resident birds have the ability to feed themselves and stay warm even when the mercury drops to 40 below zero. To contrary belief, birds do not migrate to southern locations because of the milder temperatures, but rather for a more reliable source of food.

Life above the Arctic Circle

A map of Alaska showing the boundary of Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.
The Arctic National Wildlife Refuge encompasses 19,286,722 acres of northeastern Alaska and is the largest national wildlife refuge in the United States. Data source: USFWS

The Arctic National Wildlife Refuge sits north of the Arctic Circle and is known for its stunning beauty and iconic wildlife including the 197,000-animal Porcupine caribou herd, glistening-white polar bears, and an assortment of bird species breeding during the short summer months. Once winter arrives, the landscape transforms into a windswept and desolate place where only the strong-willed can survive such environmental extremes.

A white bear walking on a beach.
A polar bear taking a stroll at Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. 📷USFWS/Lisa Hupp

The Arctic Refuge is home to many year-round resident bird species including: Spruce Grouse, Willow Ptarmigan, Rock Ptarmigan, Gyrfalcon, Snowy Owl, Northern Hawk-Owl, Boreal Owl, Canada Jay, Common Raven, Black-capped, Boreal, and Gray-headed Chickadees (rare), American Dipper, Pine Grosbeak, White-winged Crossbill, and Common and Hoary Redpolls.

A large white bird with red eyebrows standing on a rock.
Rock Ptarmigan (Lagopus muta) are the only species who spend their entire lives on the tundra. 📷 USFWS/Luke DeCicco

Each species has a unique way of coping with nine months of winter and two months of pure darkness…

A gray and white bird standing in a coniferous tree.
An adult Canada Jay (formerly know as “Gray Jay”) watched his offspring practice flying nearby. 📷USFWS/Zak Pohlen

Canada Jay (Perisoreus canadensis) are able to nest in extraordinarily cold conditions — laying eggs in February and feeding chicks in March when food availability is scarce.

A brown and white bird standing in a dead coniferous tree.
A Northern Hawk-Owl watching her surroundings. 📷 USFWS/Zak Pohlen

Northern Hawk-Owl (Surnia ulula) can detect prey moving 12 inches beneath the snow. Unlike other owl species, Northern Hawk-Owl are not silent when they fly nor do they have asymmetrical ear openings.

A brown bird with a red patch on the forehead.
A Common Redpoll looking for his next meal. 📷 USFWS/Zak Pohlen

Common Redpoll (Acanthis flammea) feed on birch and alder seeds, consuming up to 40% of their body weight per day during the winter.

. . . but not many adaptations are as extraordinary as those of the Black-capped Chickadee!

A black and white bird grasping a tree branch and surrounded by snow.
A Black-capped Chickadee in the snow. 📷 USFWS/Zak Pohlen

Memory for Survival

A black and white bird grasping the bark of a tree.
A Black-capped Chickadee caching seeds in the bark of a paper birch. 📷 Mario Pineda/The Birds are Calling

A very common backyard bird across the west and northeastern United States, Black-capped Chickadees are one of the most adaptable songbird species when it comes to winter survival. Each fall, chickadees collect extra seeds, fruits and insects and store their collection, or cache, in hundreds of different locations from crevices in the bark of a tree to a cluster of spruce needles, or even nooks and crannies in human structures.

You may be asking yourself “How can a bird that only weighs as much as a AAA battery possibly remember where all the food is stored?” Well, it’s all in their brains!

An drawing of a bird with a think bubble.
Black-capped Chickadee illustration of memory. Robert Krulwich/NPR
An illustration showing the functions of a bird brain.
Bird brain functions. Illustration: Tony Angell

The hippocampus is a mushroom-shaped cap that sits on top of the brain in birds, contrary to mammals that have two located on either side of the brain. The hippocampus is the spatial memory portion of the brain that allows animals to learn and remember specific locations. Surprisingly, scientists have discovered that the size of the hippocampus in chickadees actually varies depending on the latitude of where the bird spends the winter. The colder the location, the larger the hippocampus grows — reaching a maximum of 30% of their total brain size.

Shivering in the Silence

But there is more to the Black-capped Chickadee’s winter survival success. These birds are also capable of going into nightly hypothermia. During the day, chickadees consume more than their body needs, allowing them to reduce their metabolism at night and use the extra fat reserves to shiver and stay warm throughout the 18-hour nights of northern Alaska. The bird’s incredible use of fat reserves would be equivalent to an average human male loosing 9% or 15 pounds during a single night’s sleep.

An illustration of a black and white bird wearing a jacket and holding a cup of hot chocolate.
Chickadee in a jacket; courtesy of Wallpaper Flare

Winter Feeding

A black and white bird standing on a bird feeder platform.
A Black-capped Chickadee at a feeder. 📷USFWS/Tamara Zeller

If you live where the Black-capped Chickadees roam and have a feeder full of black oil sunflower seeds, I’m sure you’ve had more than a handful of chickadees pay you a visit. Feeding backyard birds with appropriate foods is one of America’s favorite pastimes (beside baseball of course!). During the winter, peanut butter and suet cakes are excellent high-protein food sources that are sure to attract the birds, but if you don’t time it right, you may get more than you bargained for. Feeding birds in the spring and summer when natural sources of food are available isn’t necessary but OK as long as nuisance bears are not an issue and feeders are cleaned out frequently to prevent bird seed and suet from spoiling in the heat. Backyard bird feeding can bring joy any time of year, but in the winter, birdwatching at feeders can be exceptionally rewarding.

Winter Birdwatching

It is true that birdwatching in the winter is less desirable. It not only requires extra layers but also extra patients. Depending on the location, there are usually few bird species, but this happens to be the perfect opportunity for people new to birding! With fewer species in the winter, beginners can learn bird vocalizations and appearances without being overwhelmed by hundreds of migratory species right from the start. Additionally, without leaves on the trees birds are much easier to observe. Check out the Cornell FeederWatch Cam for bird viewing from the comfort of your own couch!

Kid wearing jackets and mittens and looking through binoculars.
Youth winter bird watching and exploration. 📷 USFWS

Paradise in the darkness

Resident bird species overcome enormous feats to survive the winter months. Hundreds of miles from civilization, the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge provides some of the harshest conditions for overwintering birds, but with such extraordinary adaptations, it’s just another day in paradise for the Black-capped Chickadee.

Green and purple northern lights in the night sky.
Northern Light (Aurora Borealis) shine bright above Alaska’s National Wildlife Refuges. 📷 USFWS/Keith Ramos

Learn more about Alaska’s Chickadees and the Arctic Refuge Virtual Bird Festival. #ArcticBirdFest

Laura McDuffie is a Communication Specialist for The Great Basin Institute and USFWS External Affairs Alaska Region.

In Alaska we are shared stewards of world renowned natural resources and our nation’s last true wild places. Our hope is that each generation has the opportunity to live with, live from, discover and enjoy the wildness of this awe-inspiring land and the people who love and depend on it.

Follow us: Facebook Twitter Medium

--

--