This story appeared in the September/October 2020 of Discover magazine as "The Ecology of Dumb." We hope you’ll subscribe to Discover and help support science journalism at a time when it’s needed the most.
As you get closer to Earth’s poles, seasonal swings in temperature and vegetation get increasingly drastic. In many places, snowy winter wastelands alternate with relatively lush summers. That can make life hard for birds, unless they can cope with the weather — and their food sources — changing throughout the year. Birds that can’t handle it migrate to warmer climes for the winter. Those that tough it out year-round tend to have big brains relative to their body size, which help them figure out how to manage life in the changing landscape — or so scientists had thought.
But Trevor Fristoe, who grew up in Alaska, knew that small-brained birds could also thrive in such environments. ...
