Could Birds Replace Meteorologists?

photo credit: Aleksey Marcov via Pixabay

Just as you probably do, I have a weather app on my phone. I now rely on it and consult it daily -- and frequently. Before smartphones, I depended on television and radio meteorologists to tell me what to expect weather-wise. All of these weather predictors pretty much rely on the same data source: NOAA (U.S. National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration). NOAA has access to the primary data sources. How that data is then interpreted and communicated vis-a-vis human meteorologists or computer-generated algorithms and digitally-enabled tools is how most of us come to know our weather patterns-to-be.

The thing about all these people and weather-prediction tools is that they're not always right. In fact, they are often completely wrong! So wrong that I've often said that all parents should encourage their kids to become meteorologists because there aren't many professions where you can be wrong literally half the time and still keep your job! (The other profession is advertising, in which I have first-hand experience, but that's another whole story.)

All you have to do is pay attention

When it comes to weather forecasts, I have recently added another resource to my weather prediction arsenal: backyard bird behavior. That's because, if you pay attention to what the birds are doing, they can be an indication of whether the severity of the supposed weather pattern-to-be is going to come to pass or perhaps be way off the mark. Let me give you an example.

Say I've been monitoring my weather app, and it says there's a 50% chance of rain today. I start my morning, and the sky is cloudy but not terribly ominous. Then suddenly, my backyard birds start going bonkers. This is how I describe their behavior, at least. There are birds flying all over the place. There's heavy activity at my bird feeders. There's a constant presence of bird calls resounding through the trees. What's going on?!!

Soggy, pathetic-looking Blue Jay at my Bird Buddy feeder

When I first observed this behavior, I didn't pay much attention to it other than it was happening -- that it seemed to be an anomaly. Somewhere along the way, though, I started to notice the pattern. This crazy, heightened activity seemed to precede a weather incident: a storm, rainfall, snow, wind storm, etc. The more frenetic the bird activity, the more likely some weather activity was nearby.

Birds are in the know

May 28th, 2025 was such a day. The forecast called for 100% chance of rain, so I didn't doubt there would be rain. But how hard would it rain? When? Would it be a sprinkle or a deluge? Would it last very long or let up quickly? My weather app wasn't all that helpful in answering these questions...but the birds were.

When I began observing my backyard, it wasn't raining but the birds were going crazy, whizzing across the yard like they were Concord jets bound for Paris and congregating at my many feeders, gobbling up seed at record pace. After observing this behavior for a while and not seeing it die down, I knew a storm was coming, and I guessed that it would probably be pretty intense. The birds did not disappoint. Soon, the skies opened up and a very heavy rain began. Suddenly, there were no birds in sight. They had all gone into hiding, seeking protection from the storm.

This Northern Cardinal looks like its had its head streaked, but it's just the pattern of its wet feathers

After a while, the rain intensity lessened, and I began to see a little bird activity. Not the same flurry as before, but a few intrepid birds willing to get their feathers wet. Slowly -- and certainly much more slowly than before the downpour began -- more birds came out, flying and eating at a "normal" midday pace. (Birds seem much less active in the middle of the day than during the early morning and pre-dusk evening hours.) But they weren't done yet. After a time, their activity picked up again, signaling to me the advance of another heavy rain.

Sure enough, soon after the birds went quiet, the hard rain returned. And so it went until later in the day when the bird activity returned to "normal." By then, I knew that the day's inclement weather had passed.

A damp Carolina Wren comes out for a bite

While it's still technically spring, i.e. the rainy season, now when I see radical bird activity, I think "rain" or "wind storm," but in the wintertime, the same frenzied bird behavior can indicate an impending snow or freezing rain storm. Bird behavior, I have found, can be far more reliable than the weather forecaster or app, and definitely as an indicator of an impending weather event. It's for this reason that I have come to pay close attention to my backyard birds, even when it's nothing but cloudless blue skies for miles. Their natural "Doppler radar" seems to be a far more accurate tool.

With the weather so frequently a topic on people's lips, perhaps more folks should pay attention to bird activity if they really want to know what's looming!

I suggest you do an experiment: spend a little time observing bird behavior and what happens on a day when the weather changes. What do you see? Could the birds become your secret meteorologist, too? I would love to hear if your observations support my theory!