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Notice how all the birds flying around during the day disappears and go completely silent when it gets dark? Where do they all go?
As oregeonwoodsmake says, home to bed. Where bed is depends on the species (for the most common birds, that would be a tree, but for some it's open water, or a cave or cliff face, or hidden in tall grass).
Location: East of Seattle since 1992, 615' Elevation, Zone 8b - originally from SF Bay Area
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Owls, of course, come out at night and hide during the day. We get as many as 20 Oregon Junkos hanging around in out yard eating seeds from our trees and plants. They will often perch in conifer trees, but they also like to be on the ground in tall grasses or shrubbery. One evening I watched two of them having a territorial dispute with a squirrel.
As oregeonwoodsmake says, home to bed. Where bed is depends on the species (for the most common birds, that would be a tree, but for some it's open water, or a cave or cliff face, or hidden in tall grass).
And some species roost together for mutual protection. They'll fly to and gather in a particular grove of tall trees (or a cliff face, an island, ocean rock, or river sand bar). Gathering in a group means more eyes and ears to detect a predator. Many wading birds, corvids, raptors, migratory waterfowl, and some songbirds form communal roosts every night outside nesting seasons.
And some species roost together for mutual protection. They'll fly to and gather in a particular grove of tall trees (or a cliff face, an island, ocean rock, or river sand bar). Gathering in a group means more eyes and ears to detect a predator. Many wading birds, corvids, raptors, migratory waterfowl, and some songbirds form communal roosts every night outside nesting seasons.
Indeed. Starlings are well known for their huge communal roosts. And my state sees over 500,000 sandhill cranes nesting communally on sand bars on the Platte River every spring.
Many years ago I was walking to my dentist's office one fine fall morning when I heard a HUGE hubbub coming from inside a bush. Sparrows inside the bush were scolding something. The noise made me look closer, and on top of the bush was an immature kestrel, whose brown feathers blended perfectly with the brown leaves on the bush. I'd never have spotted him if those sparrows hadn't been sounding the warning - but of course that was the whole idea! By spending the night inside that bush they'd saved themselves, and now they were warning everything in hearing distance that a predator was on the loose.
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