Birds & Their Habitats
A habitat provides food, shelter, breeding space and the ecological conditions a species needs to survive. Many birds use different habitats in different seasons.
How habitat shapes a bird
Forest
Short rounded wings for manoeuvring between trees, strong feet for clinging, and loud songs that carry through dense foliage.
Mountains
Efficient haemoglobin for thin air, dense insulating plumage and seasonal altitude migration, as in the Himalayan monal.
Wetlands
Long legs for wading, webbed or lobed feet for swimming, and specialised bills for filtering, probing or spearing.
Deserts
Sandy camouflage, water-saving kidneys and behaviour like the sandgrouse’s water-carrying belly feathers.
Ocean
Salt glands to excrete salt, long narrow wings for dynamic soaring, and waterproof plumage.
Polar
Thick fat, dense feathers, counter-current heat exchange in the legs and huddling behaviour.