--- title: City Birds Are Smarter, Stronger Than Country Birds: Study description: City birds are smarter than country birds and have stronger immune systems, a new study has found. canonical: https://time.com/4269678/city-birds-smarter-country/ author: Melissa Chan article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-03-23T19:49:35.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-03-31T09:24:16.966Z article:section: Science og:title: City Birds are Smarter And Stronger Than Country Birds: Study og:description: "It seems that in this case, the urban birds have it all" og:url: https://time.com/4269678/city-birds-smarter-country/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt727420c35d5bd8ee/69888c3a2dce01a2069e8539/city-birds-smarter-country-birds.jpg?branch=production&width=1024&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1024 og:image:height: 576 og:image:alt: Gimpel_5764 og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: City Birds are Smarter And Stronger Than Country Birds: Study twitter:description: "It seems that in this case, the urban birds have it all" twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt727420c35d5bd8ee/69888c3a2dce01a2069e8539/city-birds-smarter-country-birds.jpg?branch=production&width=1024&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # City Birds Are Smarter and Stronger Than Country Birds, Study Finds > Sponsored content. 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There is no cost and no subscription requirement. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-network-2026q3/newsletters?i=66ed09c0-d476-43af-a034-ab7395077dd0&cr=time-nl-network-2026q3-v1)  by [Melissa Chan](https://time.com/author/melissa-chan/)  ## Melissa Chan Mar 23, 2016 7:49 PM UTC  (GERMANY OUT) Gimpelweibchen, auch Dompfaff, sitzt auf einem Zweig im Garten und reckt entspannt Staender und Fluegel (Photo by Harald Lange/ullstein bild via Getty Images) (GERMANY OUT) Gimpelweibchen, auch Dompfaff, sitzt auf einem Zweig im Garten und reckt entspannt Staender und Fluegel (Photo by Harald Lange/ullstein bild via Getty Images) ullstein bild—ullstein bild via Getty Images  by [Melissa Chan](https://time.com/author/melissa-chan/)  ## Melissa Chan Mar 23, 2016 7:49 PM UTC City birds are smarter than country birds and have stronger immune systems, [a small study has found](https://www.mcgill.ca/newsroom/channels/news/cities-breed-smarter-birds-259744). Researchers have discovered key differences in problem-solving ability and resistance to infection among birds that live in urban environments and those from rural landscapes. City birds performed better in [cognitive tests](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KaE8z95KboE&feature=youtu.be) and exceeded their country counterparts in exploiting new resources, according to a team of McGill University researchers. “We found that not only were birds from urbanized areas better at innovative problem-solving tasks than bullfinches from rural environments, but that surprisingly urban birds also had a better immunity than rural birds,” said Jean-Nicolas Audet, the author of the study published in the journal [_Behavioral Ecology_](http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/beheco/arv109). “It seems that in this case, the urban birds have it all.” The research team used 53 bullfinches captured from different parts of Barbados for the study. Birds from the more developed areas of the Caribbean island were able to open drawers to access food faster and had bolder temperaments. Researchers said the behaviors show that living in cities affects cognition, behavior and physiology of birds in their favor. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4269678/city-birds-smarter-country/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4269678/city-birds-smarter-country/"},"headline":"City Birds Are Smarter and Stronger Than Country Birds, Study Finds","datePublished":"2016-03-23T19:49:35.000Z","dateModified":"2026-03-31T09:24:16.966Z","description":"\"It seems that in this case, the urban birds have it all\"","url":"https://time.com/4269678/city-birds-smarter-country/","keywords":["animals"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt727420c35d5bd8ee/69888c3a2dce01a2069e8539/city-birds-smarter-country-birds.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Melissa Chan","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/melissa-chan/"}],"articleSection":"Science","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt727420c35d5bd8ee/69888c3a2dce01a2069e8539/city-birds-smarter-country-birds.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Gimpel_5764","caption":"","creditText":"ullstein bild—ullstein bild via Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/section/science/","name":"Science"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/tag/animals/","name":"animals"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4269678/city-birds-smarter-country/","name":"City Birds Are Smarter and Stronger Than Country Birds, Study Finds"}}]}] ```