Do wild birds know by instinct if food will not be available and quit breeding for the season?

Question

I have observed this behavior in English Sparrows nesting sites.

Answer 1

No, they don't have that ability. It is normal for birds to abandon eggs and nestlings during bad seasons. That was most well documented during the 1983-84 El Nino years in literally hundreds of different birds species. Quite obviously birds don't have any prior knowledge of whether a season will be god or bad.

I'm not sure what you observed in sparrows, but it was most likely simply that the early spring season was so poor that the hens were unable to achieve breeding condition. As a result no eggs were laid. This isn't any instinct about what food will be available, it's simply that starving birds are incapable of producing eggs; humans are exactly the same.

Answer 2

I do know that birds go by light cycles. At the end of the summer the light is less in duration and this is a signal in colder climates. I agree with the others though in bad conditions they will leave such as drought.

Answer 3

I tend to agree with the first answerer. They go by the previous season. More information can be found in "The Selfish Gene" the International Best Seller