Winter Birding: How Birds Adapt to Winter

Birds have an incredible ability to adapt to extraordinary changes in seasons, habitats and fluctuations in food sources. Coping with winter is no exception. Whether producing 25% more feathers to embrace their insulative qualities, enlarging their memory capacity as they cache food, or utilizing heat-exchange systems in their legs to prevent freezing, birds don't just survive winter conditions-they thrive. We'll explore birds like the Downy Woodpecker, which can target fly larvae embedded in goldenrod galls, and kinglets, which communally roost in a state of torpor during some of the longest and coldest nights of the year.

This standalone program is part of the online Winter Birding series. Register for the full series before it starts on Jan. 28, and get all four sessions (Jan. 28: How Birds Adapt to Winter, Feb. 11: Gray and Grayer - Winter Gulls, Feb. 25: Raptors, March 11: Love Is in the Air - Woodcocks) for the price of three.