Birds

For the mechanics of Birds in Birdcages, see Birdcage.

For the special Parrot in the Shipwrecked DLC, see Parrot Pirate.

“Does that mean winter is gone?”

–Wilson, when examining the Redbird after winter.

Birds are passive Mobs. They can be found in every biome during the Day and Dusk. They fly down from off-screen and peck the ground for a few moments, then fly away. When they take flight, there is a chance that Seeds are left behind, unless it's Winter or in interiors. Birds will also be attracted to Seeds left on the ground. If the player or most other mobs get too close, birds will be frightened away. Birds won't land on Sticky Webbing and will swiftly fly away if they already lands.

When killed, birds drop a Morsel or a Feather, and all other birds nearby will fly away. They are considered innocent creatures and killing them directly adds points to the player's naughtiness level, which causes Krampus to appear. Killing a Crow adds 1 point to the player's naughtiness level while killing a Redbird or Snowbird adds 2 points to the player's naughtiness level.

Downloadable Content

In all DLCs, Birds inside the player's inventory will starve in 2 days unless they are fed Seeds.

In the Shipwrecked and Hamlet DLCs, Birds take 100 poison damge per interval instead of normal 2. Birds won't land on flooding tiles, and will swiftly fly away if they already lands and the flooding spreads.

Hunting

Birds can be caught using a Bird Trap. Placing the trap on the ground will eventually catch a bird even without bait. Adding bait such as Seeds or Berries will greatly decrease the time it takes to catch one. They can be Murdered by right-clicking them in inventory to produce a Feather or Morsel, or be cooked on a fire for a Cooked Morsel. Birds in the player's inventory can be dropped on the ground and will flop on the ground belly-up for a short while before flying off. They can also be imprisoned in Bird Cages.

Hunting Birds requires a ranged weapon such as a Boomerang. Birds will not land within melee range (even if bait is placed on the ground) and will fly away when the player approaches. However, if they are put to sleep when using characters with a normal damage modifier, they can be killed in 1 hit with a sufficient melee weapon.

If a bird is in flight while in range of a sleeping item's effect, it will plummet to the ground and can be picked up as an item.

Wearing a Feather Hat will increase the number of Birds spawning as well as decreasing the time between spawns. Using Birds of the World (while playing as Wickerbottom) will also cause a large number of them to land.

One can send a Smallbird to attack a Bird. This can be done without the bird getting frightened and without raising naughtiness.

They take one blast from the Ice Staff to be frozen and one Sleep Dart to be put to sleep.

Bird List

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  Crow

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  Redbird

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  Snowbird

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  Parrot
  

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  Parrot Pirate
  

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  Seagull
  

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  Toucan
  

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  Cormorant
  

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  Kingfisher
  

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  Parrot
  

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  Pigeon
  

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  Canary
  

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  Puffin
  

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  Misshapen Bird
  

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  Moonblind Crow
  

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  Pigeon
  

Tips

• When bait-trapping Birds for their Feathers, players should make sure to do so on Turf in which specific Birds will spawn, so that they get specific Feathers. Redbirds and Snowbirds spawn most commonly on Grass Turf, while Crows spawn on Rocky Turf and all player-made turfs.
• If one can manage to bring a Damaged Bishop from the Ruins, their ranged blasts are an effective tool to hunt birds without expending resources on Bird Traps or Boomerangs.
• If the player doesn't want any Feathers from the Birds, cooking them alive provides a guaranteed Cooked Morsel. Note that this means sacrificing the option of turning the Bird into Small Jerky, since cooked meat cannot be hung on a Drying Rack.
• If the player character has a damage modifier < 1, Boomerangs will not kill birds with one hit, allowing them to flee. Alternatively, the player can use an Ice Staff to freeze the bird then use melee to kill them.
• If placed in a Hamlet interior, birds will flop around on the floor, upside down. They will not fly away and can be picked up again.

Trivia

• Before the Naughty and Nice update, the Redbird was called "Red Bird".
• Cormorants were added to SW more than a year after its official completion in the Home Sea Home update, after being tested in a beta branch for several months.
• Canaries were introduced in the Warts and All update.
• Puffins were introduced in the Turn of Tides update.
• Meat such as Morsels previously attracted Crows. However, Morsels can no longer be used as a bait in traps and will not attract Crows to their location.
• The Snowbird is referenced as a "Winter Robin" or "Junco" in game files. A junco is a small North American bird, unrelated to the robin.
• The Snowbird's coloration and crest are reminiscent of the Blue Jay (a member of the crow's family, Corvidae).
• The red parrot appears to be based on the green-winged macaw.
• The Toucan appears to be based in part on yellow-throated toucans.
• The Redbird is referenced as "Robin" in game files, and uses real-life robin sounds, but the artwork is inspired by a cardinal.
• Woodie strongly dislikes birds. He says they are evil and should be punished.
• Maxwell mentions that he doesn't know how the Crows got to the island and does not recognize the Snowbird. He says that the Redbird comes from "the fire lands", possibly meaning that there are other worlds in the Constant.
  • It is revealed in the animated short C’est La Vie that crows were unintentionally brought into the Constant along with Wes.
• Wickerbottom refers to several of the birds by their scientific names.
  • Crow: Corvus brachyrhynchos, the American Crow. If all the crows in the Constant are descended from the ones brought along with Wes, and the animated short C’est La Vie takes place in France, then the crows would most likely actually be Corvus corone, or Carrion Crows, which are native to western Europe. However, it is possible that Wickerbottom simply mistook them, as the most distinguishable difference between these two species is their call.
  • Redbird and Snowbird: Cardinalis, a genus of New World cardinals. Real-life cardinals' plumage does not generally change color seasonally, hence her surprise at the Snowbird's coloration.
  • Cormorant: Phalacrocoracidae, the cormorant family.
  • Seagull: "Laridae Birdus family". Laridae is the real-world family containing gulls and terns.
  • Kingfisher: Chloroceryle amazona, the Amazon kingfisher.
  • the blue Parrot from Hamlet: "Psittaciformes Norwegianae". Psittaciformes is the real-world order containing all parrots. "Norwegianae" is likely a reference to the fictional Norwegian Blue parrot from Monty Python's famous comedy sketch.
  • Pigeon: Columbidae, the pigeon and dove family.
  • Canary: Serinus canarius, the Atlantic canary, which is the most common canary in captivity.
  • Puffin: Fratercula corniculata, the horned puffin.
• Crows have a lower Naughtiness level than the other birds. This might be due to the common belief of Crows representing bad omens.
• In RoG, upon examination of a Redbird, Wilson will say, "Does that mean winter is gone?" instead of "Does that mean spring is coming?".
• Parrot Pirates, upon being caught, will have a name and will occasionally speak from the inventory as red text appearing above the player's head.
• When stunned, Birds can be stolen by Prime Apes and stored in their inventories.
• Real-life canaries are extremely sensitive to oxygen deprivation. In-game Canaries getting poisoned when in caves is a reference to their historical use, warning miners that air was running out by dying.
• Pigeons in Hamlet have different sprites than Pigeons from The Gorge.
• A red version of the Blue Parrot is seen in the animated short Lunar Roots, however they cannot be found in game.
• Puffins are the only birds that don't sink when dropped in the ocean in DST.
• In DST, birds no longer drop Adverts as of the March 2022 QoL update.

Bugs

• If SW is installed, on a RoG world, Redbirds may spawn during Winter. Birds may also drop Seeds during Winter.
• Birds can sometimes "land on" objects and mobs that are otherwise obstacles, such as Campfires, the Pig King or the Lake.

Gallery

• Crow gif.gif

  Idle animation of Crows.

• Robin gif.gif

  Idle animation of Redbirds.

• Robin winter gif.gif

  Idle animation of Snowbirds.

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  Crow pecking the ground.

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  Crow in flight.

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  A Crow falling out of the sky.

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  A stunned Crow.

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  A frozen Crow.

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  A Crow sleeping.

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  A Crow trapped in a Bird Trap.

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  A caged Crow.

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  A dead Crow.

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  Redbird taking to the air.

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  Redbird in flight.

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  Two flopping Redbirds.

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  A sleeping Redbird.

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  A frozen Redbird.

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  A dead Redbird.

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  A caged Redbird.

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  A trapped Redbird.

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  A Redbird on fire.

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  A sleeping Snowbird.

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  A frozen Snowbird.

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  A flopping Snowbird.

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  A dead Snowbird.

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  A Snowbird on fire.

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  A Snowbird taking off.

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  A Snowbird trapped in a Bird Trap.

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  A caged Snowbird.

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  A caged Canary.

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  A caged Canary sleeping.

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  A bugged Crow on a Lake.

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  A Canary exploding.

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  A dead Canary.

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  Sleeping Puffin

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  Unused animation of puffin

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  A bugged bird which has durability.

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  A Crow that landed on the Pig King.

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  Crows as seen in a promotional image of Don't Starve.

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  Crows as seen in another promotional image.

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  Parrot and Toucan on the official Shipwrecked promo art.

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  Cormorant as seen in the poster for the Home Sea Home update.

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  Canary as seen in the poster for the Warts and All update.

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  A Redbird as seen in a drawing from Art Stream # 19.

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  Wormwood trying to fit in with Parrots in his animated short Lunar Roots.

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  Seagull drawn during the Klei Doodle Jam.

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  Snowbirds as seen in the poster for the A Winter's Tale update.

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  Crows as seen in a poster announcing the release of Don't Starve: Giant Edition on the Xbox One.

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  Cormorant and rats eat garden cinxept animation for Shipwrect by Floriane Grivillers

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  Shipwrect birds and rats concept art by Floriane Grivillers

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  Crow as seen in a stream smash #009

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  In concept art

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  In DST Loading Screen

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  Snowbird in Historically Accurate Don't Starve Themed Card "Afraid" by Klei Developers

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  Original HD red bird icon from Bonus Materials from CD Don't Starve.

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  Original HD crow icon from Bonus Materials from CD Don't Starve.