This is bird note.

As December days shorten, you may wonder where birds, including this Stellers J and others, spend the long cold nights.

It might surprise you to learn that they are not snuggled into cozy nests.

The only time of the year when birds sleep in nests is when they are incubating eggs or keeping their young warm.

During the rest of the year, birds select a roosting spot. Often they use the same roost night after night.

Songbirds find a protected place to perch, sheltered from rain and safe from nighttime predators.

Small forest birds,

including this red-breasted nut hatch, may spend the night huddled together in

tree cavities. Ducks float in protected bays. Woodpeckers, like this Downey Woodpecker cling to vertical tree trunks.

On these cold nights, birds fluff up their feathers for insulation and often hunker down over their bare

legs and feet to keep them warm.

Most birds can't tuck their heads under their wings to sleep, as we've been led to believe, but they do turn their heads around and

poke their beaks under shoulder feathers to keep their beaks warm.

Did you know Bird Note delivers the wonder and joy of birds directly to your inbox?

Sign up for our newsletter at birdnote.org to get a weekly preview of our shows, stories, photos, and more.