Why do small birds hop around on the ground while large birds walk??

[I_Know_Nothing]

I noticed this at work while on the patio. It seems like small birds(sparrow, finch) all hop around on the ground while large birds(grackle, crow) walk around. Is there a theory that explains this or are we going invent?

[Mindfield]

I’m thinking that smaller birds have legs that are a bit further back on the body and are designed for hopping rather than walking due to the shifted center of gravity in relation to their legs. Birds like this take off from a standing position – something they can probably do thanks to their smaller size and lower mass – while those larger birds tend to make running starts.

[Duck_Duck_Goose]

http://amos.indiana.edu/library/scripts/birds.html

…large birds may hop a few paces, or hop while flapping their wings. But unless you have a body like a kangaroo, the amount of energy needed to hop regularly when your mass is above a certain amount will be more than you can afford. Try hopping to work tomorrow instead of walking and see how long you can manage it. Smaller birds have a choice, then, that larger ones don’t have.

[Duck_Duck_Goose]

@Mindfield

those larger birds tend to make running starts.

Crows and grackles can take off vertically with a jump and a big flap, just like sparrows, sorry.

[puppygod]

Just wanted to note that some small birds (even smaller than sparrow) walk.

The more interesting is why sparrows indeed hop around like spring-loaded.

[Hazle_Weatherfield]

Scout the parakeet frequently walks and runs after his toys. It’s really hilarious to watch him run for 3 feet or more. He looks funny doing it and I always say, “You can fly, you know!” It seems to be more of a game or sporting thing for him.

[Darwin_s_Finch]

Quite astonishingly, I found that locomotion in birds was guided by factors quite remote and removed from legs: the preferential method of movement adopted by a bird had more to do with eyesight, vision range and visual pathways, which in turn were influenced mainly by mobility and range of movement of the neck inter-vertebral joints.

In other words, the ability of the bird. In simpler terms, the better a bird could swivel and turn its neck, the less there is need for it to hop. It walked. The more rigid the neck movement, the more likely the bird opts for hopping.[…]Watch the long necked stork or egret or paddy bird – it walks slowly one step at a time, once awhile, it turns its neck fully back to check out for danger from behind. So do the peafowl, or swan and goose. Now, look at the sparrow or munia, both small but short necked birds. They have limited neck mobility – they hop about rapidly, but once awhile, hop sideways or about turn hop, to see what’s behind.

From here.

[bouv]

@puppygod

Just wanted to note that some small birds (even smaller than sparrow) walk.

Yeah, go to a beach and watch the little sand pipers zip back and forth. I swear, someone is feeding those things crack.

[Marley23]

Paging Colibri.

[Colibri]

@Marley23

Paging Colibri.

You rang?

First I would note that hopping is not just limited to small birds in general, it is mostly limited to the perching birds (“passerines”, members of the Order Passeriformes). This includes all of the small “tweety-birds,” like sparrows, robins, warblers, and so on, the biggest being the jays and crows. I can think of only a few non-passerines that hop - a few ground-foraging woodpeckers come to mind. Even small non-passerines, like parakeets and sandpipers, walk.

While there are exceptions, by and large I think that whether or not a passerine hops depends on how much time it spends perching in trees vs on the ground. Perching securely requires a large, strong hind toe that can grasp a branch well. Such a hind toe, or the musculature involved in perching, may make it more difficult to walk, so that hopping becomes the preferred means of getting around on the ground.

An exception I can think of are the ground-dwelling antpittas, which mostly hop. There may be some others.

[j_sum1]

Obligatory link

[TroubleAgain]

@Hazle Weatherfield

Scout the parakeet frequently walks and runs after his toys. It’s really hilarious to watch him run for 3 feet or more. He looks funny doing it and I always say, “You can fly, you know!” It seems to be more of a game or sporting thing for him.

My lovebird chases me on foot, too, until I get far enough away she decides that she has to fly to catch me.