How Much Do Birds Eat?

Considering how small and light they are, birds are very big eaters. Since birds do everything quickly — they fly quickly, they run quickly, even their hearts beat quickly — birds need a lot of food energy to keep going.

Most birds eat half their weight in food every day. That's like a 100-pound person eating 50 pounds of food in a day. And some young birds eat more than their weight in food every day!

Scientists watching a mother wren feeding her chicks found that she brought food back to her nest more than 1,200 times in 24 hours!