How Do Birds Sense Danger?

What Can They Sense, And How?

By Richard Worden

Animals are known for their extrasensory abilities–the hidden senses they use to detect perceived changes in their environment. And birds seem to have an uncanny ability to notice sudden changes in their immediate surroundings, to the point where they seem able to predict storms. So, how do birds sense danger?

Birds sense danger by using a variety of faculties. Their keen sense of smell helps them detect predators in their environment. Birds also notice changes in air pressure and hear sounds below the audible frequency of humans, allowing them to sense some natural disasters long before they occur.

Birds have many tricks to sense danger in their immediate environment, as it’s necessary for them considering their fragile nature. In this article, I’ll go over how birds sense danger and the different kinds of threats they pick up on.

Can Birds Sense Storms or Bad Weather?

If you’ve looked at the skies before a thunderstorm or heavy rainfall, you may notice the birds acting a bit crazy. Some will simply fly around in circles, some head straight home, and others spend extra time at feeders, stuffing themselves with haste.

Most birds can sense storms or bad weather approaching from changes in air pressure. Birds are also able to hear infrasound, which is at a lower frequency and often signals an approaching storm. The combination of these faculties helps birds predict an approaching storm.

In fact, apart from predicting bad weather, some birds can accurately gauge how bad the weather will be depending on the drop in air pressure. You will also notice these birds avoiding higher branches on the trees to avoid being whipped around by the storm.

The Ability To ‘Hear’ Tsunamis

The ability to hear infrasound (sounds below audible frequency) can be regarded as a superpower. Scientists are figuring out how to replicate this ability to protect humans from natural disasters.

Infrasonic sounds vibrate at much lower frequencies and can’t be heard by humans. Some examples of infrasonic sounds include jet engines, volcanic tremors, and some natural disasters, like thunderstorms and tsunamis.

The bar-tailed godwit is a bird that migrates nearly 8500 miles from New Zealand to Alaska annually. If that’s cool enough, this bird manages to navigate through areas that experience regular thunderstorms and tsunamis. And while most humans in coastal regions are severely affected by the calamities, the godwit always seems to reach its destination in one piece.

Scientists have been tracking godwits to discover their secrets, so we can replicate their success and protect human populations from such disasters. They found that bar-tailed godwits would leave peaceful nesting grounds for no apparent reason until twenty-four hours later, when a tsunami hit the same spot. 

To be able to sense a disaster a full day before it happens is nothing short of a superpower, and many birds are equipped with the hearing necessary to pick up soundwaves emitted by storms and tsunamis.

Can Birds Sense Earthquakes?

Now we’ve established that some birds can sense thunderstorms and tsunamis well before they occur. Their ability to hear infrasonic waves and their knack for detecting changes in air pressure can prove handy during natural calamities. However, what if the natural disaster is more terrestrial in nature? Can birds predict earthquakes the same way they do with storms and tsunamis?

Some birds can sense earthquakes the same way they do with other natural disasters. Birds can feel changes in the free ions and electrons in the air, which occurs before an earthquake, and are known to behave strangely around this time.

It’s crucial to mention that different birds have various sensitivities to earthquakes. Some birds may only notice an approaching earthquake minutes before it occurs, while others can sense atmospheric changes well before the occurrence of an earthquake.

However, birds don’t use air pressure or hearing as much when detecting earthquakes. Before the onset of an earthquake, the vibrations and shifts in tectonic plates can release waves that reach up to the ionosphere. This layer of the atmosphere is located fifty miles above the earth’s surface.

Birds can sense the changes in the ionosphere that result from tiny shifts under the earth’s surface, which signal the possibility of an earthquake. However, a bird’s ability to sense an earthquake is much less than its storm-detection faculties. 

So, if we’re figuring out how to prevent the worst of an earthquake, studying animals like horses would be our best bet.

Can Birds Sense Cats or Dogs?

Now, we’ve covered the almost extraterrestrial ability birds have to predict natural calamities. However, these disasters are few and far between, and studying birds can provide many valuable answers. But for the bird’s own safety, can they sense the presence of dogs, cats, and other predators?

Birds can sense cats and dogs in their immediate environment by relying on their sense of smell. They have a keen sense of smell that helps them distinguish the scent of predators from the other smells in their surroundings.

Wild birds rely on their olfactory senses to avoid predators and draw them away from their babies well before the predator spots the nest. As such, while birds aren’t known for their sense of smell, most birds use scent to detect and avoid predators like cats and dogs.

If you’re planning on keeping pet birds at home, it’s best to avoid doing so if you have other pets. While you can prevent the two from ever meeting, birds can smell potential threats like cats and dogs in the house, and their constant presence can stress out the birds.

Can Birds Sense Humans?

Now we’re aware that birds can detect predators in their surroundings. But what about humans? Do birds consider them predators? And if so, how do they know when a human is around? how do birds sense danger

Birds can’t sense humans in their surroundings by using smell because their olfactory senses aren’t programmed for it. Most birds need to either see or hear humans in order to detect them.

The ability to identify humans is why so many birds, like the parrot and cockatoo, have become household favorites. These birds can identify their owners through sight and sound and, in some cases, will feel more relaxed when they’re around someone they trust.

Their inability to smell humans shatters the myth that mother birds will not welcome back babies who have been handled by humans. For years most people believed (and still believe) that if you touch a baby bird, it won’t be welcomed back in its nest. However, mother birds are far less fickle than you think and will go to great lengths to ensure their offspring are raised.

While birds won’t recognize a human’s scent, they are perceptive to disturbances in their environment. So it’s best to leave their nests alone and undisturbed, or they may abandon them in search of safer homes.

How Do Birds Sense Danger...Final Thoughts

Birds are known for their keen ability to sense danger and even predict natural disasters like earthquakes, tsunamis, and thunderstorms. This innate sense has kept their species alive for centuries and will continue to perpetuate their kind.

And thanks to their expertise, humans can now predict weather patterns and calamities by studying the behavior of birds.

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Hi! I'm Richard Worden, the author and founder of We Know Birds.

Over 20 years ago I developed a keen interest in birds and birdwatching, and it has been my passion ever since. I am committed to spreading useful knowledge about birds to others so we might all enjoy them to the fullest.

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