When it’s hot outside, humans head to the local watering hole, a shady spot, or an air-conditioned space. In other words, we adapt our behaviors to help cool our bodies. Birds also alter their behaviors to cool off, and some may pant like a dog, rest or take a siesta, or go for a cooling dip in a your backyard birdbath. Birds also have demonstrated an ability to lower their metabolism to avoid dehydration and overheating in hot weather, and some birds use their legs and beaks to help regulate their internal temperatures.
These cooling adaptations are extremely important since overheating can have devastating consequences. For example, experiments showed that wild Southern Pied-Babblers, which live in the rapidly warming Kalahari desert, exhibited a marked decline in cognitive abilities when the temperature hit 38 °C (100 °F). Other researchers found that Great Tits emitted fewer mobbing calls (the cry to “join me to mob this intruder”) at higher temperatures, potentially making them vulnerable to predators.