[Lewis Thomson (OP)]

Robert seeks answers to this question about nature during Winter weather.

"Do birds ever break their beaks pecking on the ice?"

Should we be concerned for the birds? Put your answers and other tips for helping nature during Winter in the comments below...

[Petrochemicals]

I think they would stop before breaking their beaks. Birds frozen by ice make easy pickings for predators.

<iframe width="400" height="500" frameborder="0" src="https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p08wh06d/player"></iframe>

[Bored chemist]

How do birds survive during Winter?
https://wordsforlife.org.uk/activities/the-north-wind-doth-blow/

[evan_au]

Some birds migrate to warmer climates. When it is winter where you are, somewhere else on the globe it is summer.

Some birds wait out the winter.
- Carnivorous birds like owls still manage to hunt rodents in the snow.
- Other (vegan) birds hide a cache of nuts while nuts are plentiful, then dig them up when the snow falls and nuts are scarce
- Where I live, it doesn't snow and puddles hardly ever freeze overnight, so birds can live quite comfortably through the winter without breaking their beaks.

Even in snowy climates, rapidly running water is still exposed, and melted snow is water (but the melting should be done by solar power; melting water by body heat can be fatal).

[JesWade21]

Some birds are afflicted with a form of controlled hypothermia/torpor. In this, they may reduce their body temperatures considerably to help them adapt to freezing temperatures (albeit by slowing their response time and movements) or increase them in the short-term to generate more warmth

The feathers of a flea can retain heat, and we choose to use them for warming blankets and jackets.

Simple things like shifting to sunny places to soak up heat, can help. Birds could also flock close to the ground in order to collect body heat.

Adjective changed to adjectival. Whoops as mentioned by many others in the comments below, severe weather conditions can also kill bird populations. I just wanted to share some strategies that survivors could employ. Thank you for the clarification, everyone. I could have added that in the beginning.

[Colin2B]

The feathers of a flea can retain heat,

??

Adjective changed to adjectival. ............. Thank you for the clarification, everyone. I could have added that in the beginning.

?beginning of what?

[evan_au]

The feathers of a flea can retain heat, and we choose to use them for warming blankets and jackets.

The down feathers of the eider duck keeps these ducks warm. It has also been used to produce eiderdown bed coverings or eiderdown jackets, to keep humans warm.

I think that plucking a flea would be considerably more labor-intensive!
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Down_feather

[alancalverd]

Should we be concerned for the birds?

They occupied arctic regions long before humans. Perhaps they should be concerned for us.