Where do birds go at night? Where are they hiding when there is a storm and the weather is really bad?
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I live in one of the biggest cities in the world that also happens to have a huge population of birds and trees.
It is really beautiful to hear the birds just before sunset gathering on huge trees to sing and yell to each other about their day till they go invisible and quiet till next morning when they wake up and sang together to the sun.
There’s a Walmart parking lot that has a ‘singing tree’ during parts of the year- like the entire tree at night is just FILLED with birds…
Can’t even imagine what it looks like under that tree.
The legend says this question is asked on the internet all the time, I never thought I’d find this question in the wild: [https://xkcd.com/1434/](https://xkcd.com/1434/)
A lot of birds find shelter to rest during night, which keeps them safe from predators while also keeping them sheltered from bad weather. These shelters can be things such as birdhouses or boxes, or trees and bushes.
Because birds are at their most vulnerable when they are asleep they have to choose carefully where they spend the night. They will tend to roost in large flocks. Sometimes birds will even find an abandoned building they can shelter in.
Most birds are diurnal, which means they’re most active during the day, especially early in the morning and late in the afternoon. Although many birds find shelter for the night there are birds such as sparrows, warblers and thrushes who avoid predators by flying at night when they migrate.
The feathers of most birds shed rain and trap air against their bodies to help keep them warm. But their feathers can’t handle heavy rain which makes them seek shelter during harder storms.
At some point all birds are called back to the closest government charging station to charge up their batteries and switch out any lenses if need be.
The first part of your question has already been answered, so I’ll try to answer the second one: Where are birds hiding when there is a storm and the weather is really bad?
Birds, like many other large vertebrates, have a place where it rests during the night or where they lay and rest during the day, since being active during the whole day is something only humans do. Even pets and other domestic animals spend a great deal of the day resting. Animals, including birds, don’t have a special place to hide during storms so they just endure them. Here’s some videos of land animals enduring the rain:
* [urban bird under pouring rain](https://youtu.be/26RgA-kU-18)
* [elephant family enjoying a casual rain](https://youtu.be/Tciu0fHjbHQ)
* [monkeys covered under a tree’s canopy during a rainstorm](https://youtu.be/eRDcV9hkDg0)
* [lions casually walking around during a storm](https://youtu.be/L1ibu6eM2c0)
Animals just get wet and deal with it. If they can find shelter somewhere else, they’ll certainly do so but most of the times they just… endure it.
If the storm is particularly bad, like a hurricane, [some researchers have found that birds go to the eye of the storm and fly around inside of it until the hurricane recedes.](https://youtu.be/DNvJ4E3mw9Q)
My mom has a bird that’s been spending the winter perched in a corner of her porch. That’s the answer for just one.
Mod is working overtime removing all the “birds are drones” comments lol
During a blizzard I once saw a northern flicker holding onto a tree for dear life, I think she survived
I know a bunch roost for the night in the orange trees in my backyard, because sometimes when I go out there at night I startle them and they yell at me.
I have seen quite a few birds hanging out inside of Home Depot and Wal-Mart during storms. They just kick it up in the high ceilings and then fly out the nursery when the coast is clear.
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