Eli5 Why do birds have such twitchy movement?

Question

Compared to mammals, birds seem to have this jerky, almost robotic quality to the way they move. I was wondering if there’s any explanation for this

In: 1836

Answer 1

EEEEEK i LOVE how someone else noticed this!

Another thing i’ve noticed is that the smaller the bird, the more twitchy/staccato their movement gets. bigger birds like blue jays or hawks all the way up to geese/swans have more fluid animations.

i chalk it up to something about how smaller birds get preyed upon easier so they gotta go fast to avoid predators