Birds have some of the fastest heart rates in the animal kingdom. A bird’s heart rate varies depending on the species, size, activity level, and other factors. But generally speaking, birds have much faster heart rates than humans and other mammals.
Why do birds have fast heart rates?
There are a few key reasons why birds tend to have very rapid heart rates:
- High metabolism – Birds have very high metabolic rates, meaning they burn a lot of calories for their body size. Their fast heart rate helps shuttle oxygen and nutrients throughout their body to power their high-energy lifestyle.
- Small size – With smaller bodies, birds’ hearts don’t have to pump blood as far as a larger animal’s heart. So their hearts beat faster to circulate blood to their tissues.
- Extra oxygen – Birds have adapted to get extra oxygen. Their lungs are more efficient and connect to air sacs throughout their body. Their fast heartbeat circulates oxygenated blood to power flight.
- Flight – Flying takes a huge amount of energy and birds need their cardiovascular system working at full speed while airborne. Their fast heart rate enables high-powered flight.
Average bird heart rate by size
On average, smaller bird species have faster heart rates than larger birds. Here are some general heart rate ranges:
| Bird size | Average heart rate |
|---|---|
| Hummingbird | 500-1250 bpm |
| Small songbirds | 400-700 bpm |
| Pigeons | 130-350 bpm |
| Hawks and falcons | 100-200 bpm |
| Owls | 100-150 bpm |
| Ostriches | 70-120 bpm |
As you can see, tiny hummingbirds have incredibly fast heart rates up to 1250 beats per minute. Compare that to elephants, whose heart rate is just 25-50 bpm!
Maximum and minimum heart rates
Even within a species, an individual bird’s heart rate can vary dramatically depending on what it’s doing. Here are some examples of maximum and minimum heart rates:
- Hummingbirds – Minimum 225 bpm, Maximum 1260 bpm
- Canaries – Minimum 300 bpm, Maximum 1000 bpm
- Sparrows – Minimum 200 bpm, Maximum 1000 bpm
- Robins – Minimum 200 bpm, Maximum 618 bpm
- Pigeons – Minimum 90 bpm, Maximum 600 bpm
- Owls – Minimum 80 bpm, Maximum 200 bpm
- Ostriches – Minimum 70 bpm, Maximum 150 bpm
As you can see, a hummingbird’s heart may beat over 1200 times per minute during intense activity like hovering. But an owl’s heart ticks along at a relatively slow 80-200 bpm, even during flight. So a bird’s lifestyle has a major impact on its heart rate range.
Heart rate while at rest
When a bird is at rest, its heart rate drops down towards its minimum range. But it’s still higher than a resting mammal’s heart rate. Here are average resting heart rates for some common birds:
| Bird | Resting heart rate (bpm) |
|---|---|
| Hummingbird | 225 |
| Canary | 300 |
| Finch | 400 |
| Sparrow | 200 |
| Dove | 100 |
| Chicken | 250 |
| Ostrich | 70 |
While at rest, a bird’s heartbeat drops but not dramatically. Hummingbirds have incredibly fast heart rates even when perching. Larger birds like ostriches have slower resting rates closer to a human’s.
Heart rate during flight
When a bird takes flight, its heartbeat ramps up significantly to provide the immense energy required. The increase depends on the species. Here are average flight heart rates:
| Bird | Flight heart rate (bpm) |
|---|---|
| Hummingbird | 1260 |
| Pigeon | 600 |
| Goose | 240 |
| Hawk | 200 |
| Owl | 200 |
| Ostrich | 150 |
As you can see, flight requires a big jump in heart rate for most birds. But the increase is most dramatic in smaller birds like hummingbirds and pigeons that flap their wings very rapidly.
Why does flight increase heart rate so much?
Flying requires massive energy output. To support their flight muscles, a bird’s cardiovascular system has to work overtime during flight. Specific increases include:
- Increased breathing and oxygen intake
- More blood pumped to the strong flight muscles
- Extra blood flow to the lungs for oxygen delivery
- Higher blood pressure to circulate blood against gravity
All these changes are made possible by ramping up a bird’s heart rate, sometimes to over 10 times its resting rate!
How birds maximize oxygen
Birds have uniquely adapted to get the most oxygen possible to support their high-energy lifestyle and flight:
- Efficient lungs – Bird lungs are much more efficient at gas exchange than mammalian lungs.
- Air sacs – Birds have a system of air sacs distributed throughout their body.
- Strong heart – A bird’s heart is larger and more powerful relative to its body size.
- Fast heartbeat – Their rapid heart rate circulates oxygen efficiently.
- High red blood cell count – Birds have more red blood cells to transport oxygen.
Thanks to these adaptations, birds are able to sustain an incredibly active lifestyle. Their cardiovascular and respiratory systems work together to supply oxygen much more effectively than a mammal’s.
Measuring a bird’s heart rate
Researchers use a few methods to measure a bird’s heart rate:
- Electrocardiogram (ECG) – Small electrodes are painlessly attached to the skin to detect electrical activity from the heart.
- Auscultation – A stethoscope is used to listen directly to the bird’s heartbeat.
- Doppler flow probe – Ultrasound is used to detect blood flow in an artery, which correlates to heart rate.
The ECG method provides the most detailed data and allows heart rate to be monitored continuously during activities like flight. But auscultation is the least invasive and often used for quick one-time measurements.
Measuring during flight
To monitor a bird’s heart rate during actual flights, biologists get creative. Some approaches include:
- Training birds to fly to a perch with ECG sensors
- Putting miniature heart rate monitors on free-flying birds
- Having birds fly in wind tunnels where sensors can detect their heart rate
These methods allow researchers to study how a bird’s cardiovascular system supports the huge metabolic demands of flight.
Effects of size, age, and gender
Within a species, heart rate can vary based on an individual bird’s attributes:
- Size – Smaller birds tend to have faster heart rates.
- Age – Hatchlings have higher resting heart rates that decline as they mature.
- Gender – In some species, females have higher heart rates than males on average.
However, these factors make smaller differences than the enormous variation in heart rate across bird species. The contrast between a hummingbird and an ostrich is far greater than between male and female chickens, for example.
Interesting facts about bird hearts
- Hummingbirds have the highest heart rates of all animals.
- Small songbirds have heart rates around 600 bpm while perching.
- Pigeons can increase their heart rate by 5-6 times from rest to flight.
- Some ducks can more than double their heart rate in just a few seconds when startled.
- Many birds conserve oxygen by lowering their heart rate at night or when diving underwater.
- Ostriches have the lowest heart rate of all birds, but can still nearly double it during running.
- Baby chicks develop adult-sized hearts while still in their eggs before hatching.
Conclusion
Birds have uniquely adapted cardiovascular systems that enable their high-energy lifestyle. Exceptionally efficient lungs, air sacs throughout their body, strong cardiac muscles, and extremely fast heart rates allow birds to get oxygen to their tissues at rates unmatched by other animals. While heart rate varies widely across species, most birds can ramp their heartbeat up to multiples of their resting rate during intense activities like flight. Understanding these capabilities provides insight into the evolutionary adaptations that make birds such remarkable athletes of the animal kingdom.
