During a large forest fire, what is the evacuation behavior of birds?
The exact behaviour of birds during a wildfire is unclear and there is little scientific evidence on their exact behaviour. Anecdotal notes from eye witness observations indicate that healthy birds fly away from the affected area before they are in danger. Birds that are unable to fly or move out of danger from the fire such as chicks in nest and indisposed birds are likely to die. Different species are likely to react differently to fire, species that flock normally will probably flock together as they fly and species that are more solitary are not likely to flock. Most fires happen in late summer and fall, just after the breeding season for most birds and during their migration, meaning they can escape the area. If the fire is very widespread, the birds may not be able to find appropriate shelter and food and would likely die as a result.

Wildfires are a natural phenomenon and birds have evolved to adapt strategies to deal with them. Some birds benefit from wildfires as they are a normal part of ecological succession.


  Ecological succession is the gradual process by which ecosystems
  change and develop over time in response to a disturbance or
  colonization of new habitat.


Fire essentially creates a new habitat in which not all the same birds will use. Blue Jays prefer forests, but if a wildfire burns a forest, it will likely become a shrubby field afterwards and may take years to regrow into a forest. The Blue Jays will not likely return in large numbers until the habitat is a forest again.

A remarkable bird that is dependent on forest fires is the Kirtland’s Warbler. They breed in Jack Pine forests that are a certain height, once the forests mature; the habitat is no longer suitable. The jack pines themselves only release their seeds from cones in hot fires as they are serotinous and only open when exposed to intense heat, greater than or equal to 50 °C, the typical case is in a fire. The wildfires then create a succession cycle to always have suitable habitat for the Kirtland’s Warbler. Fire suppression of forests by humans has been listed as one of the reasons that led to large declines of this species.

Additional reading:

How Wildfires affects Birds?

Jack Pine Information