Pokemon GO Valentine’s Day Event Guide (February 2026) Spawns, Shiny & Raids
Love is officially in the air and this , Pokemon GO is making sure every Trainer feels it. The Pokemon…
The Bird Nest Event (also called the Hungry Birds Event) is here in Grow a Garden, and I’m absolutely pumped to share everything I’ve discovered about this limited-time update! After spending countless hours testing the new mechanics and hatching dozens of Bird Eggs, I’ve compiled this comprehensive guide to help you maximize your rewards before the event ends on January 24, 2026.
| Event Detail | Information |
|---|---|
| Start Date | January 17, 2026 |
| End Date | January 24, 2026 |
| Duration | 7 Days |
| New Egg | Bird Egg & Premium Bird Egg |
| Total Pets | 5 Bird-Themed Pets |
| Rarities | Common to Prismatic |
| New Mutation | Goldsparkle |
| Event Location | Central Event Hub (Bird Nest Platform) |
| Event Currency | None (Crop-Based) |
This event introduces five brand-new bird pets with unique abilities, a gorgeous new Goldsparkle mutation, and a completely server-wide cooperative feeding mechanic that’s unlike anything we’ve seen before in Grow a Garden.
The Hungry Birds Event features an entirely new server-wide cooperative system that requires players to work together. Here’s exactly how it functions based on my extensive testing.
When you spawn into any Grow a Garden server during the event period, you’ll immediately notice a single-square platform in the center of the event hub. This platform contains a bird nest where adorable bird pets from the Bird Egg fly around continuously.
The nest has a progress bar that needs to reach 10 (some sources indicate 200 crops total, server-wide). This is the key mechanic—players must collaborate by placing crops into the nest.
Step 1: Harvest Your Crops
Before heading to the event hub, harvest plenty of crops from your garden. Any crop type works, but I recommend using common, fast-growing crops like:
These grow quickly and cost less, allowing you to contribute more frequently without draining your Sheckles.
Step 2: Navigate to the Event Hub
The event hub is located in the central spawn area of the map. Look for the bird nest platform—you can’t miss it with the flying bird pets circling above!
Step 3: Place Crops in the Nest
Simply walk up to the nest and place your harvested crops inside. This is a server-wide effort, meaning all players on your server contribute to the same progress bar.
According to player reports, you need approximately 200 crops total (server-wide) to fill the progress bar completely.
Step 4: Wait for the “Big Fat Birb”
Once the progress bar hits 10 (or 200 crops are submitted), a special large bird NPC will appear. This is where things get interesting!
Step 5: Feed the Bird Specific Food
The big bird will request a specific cooked food item from your Cooking Kit. This changes randomly and might request:
You’ll need to have already unlocked cooking and have the requested recipe available.
Step 6: Receive Your Reward
After feeding the bird correctly, you’ll receive one of three possible rewards:
Step 7: Repeat the Cycle
The bird stays in the nest for 10 minutes after being fed, then leaves. After it departs, the crop submission process starts over again, and you can repeat the entire cycle for more chances at rewards.
Based on my experience grinding this event, here are strategies that significantly improved my Bird Egg acquisition rate:
Join Populated Servers: The more active players contributing crops, the faster you’ll complete cycles. I found servers with 15+ players completed cycles 3-4x faster than low-population servers.
Prepare Cooking Ingredients: Stock up on cooking materials beforehand. The last thing you want is to be chosen but not have the requested food ready. I keep at least 5 of each common cooking recipe on hand.
Use Fast-Growing Crops: Don’t waste your premium seeds! I exclusively use Common eggs and basic crops for nest contributions. Save your valuable resources for your personal garden.
Time Your Sessions: Play during peak hours (evenings and weekends) when more players are online. I’ve noticed completion rates jump from 20-30 minutes per cycle to 5-10 minutes during peak times.
Coordinate with Friends: If you’re playing with friends or guild members, hop on the same server and coordinate crop contributions. We set up a rotation system where different players prepared different cooking recipes.
The Bird Egg contains five unique pets, ranging from Common to Prismatic rarity. Here’s everything you need to know about each one.
Rarity: Common
Drop Rate: Highest (estimated 40-50%)
Ability: Acts as an improved Ostrich pet, boosting pet age/weight progression for newly hatched pets.
How It Works: The Black Bird is surprisingly the best practical pet from this entire event egg. Despite being just a Common rarity, it functions like a better Ostrich, which means it helps increase the weight/age of your other pets more efficiently.
When to Use It: If you’re focused on leveling up your pet collection or working on pet weight achievements, the Black Bird is actually the standout choice from this egg. I keep mine active whenever I’m hatching new premium eggs.
Appearance: Classic black bird with sleek feathers and a distinctive yellow beak.
Rarity: Uncommon
Drop Rate: Medium (estimated 25-35%)
Ability: Unique lucky harvest multiplier—has a small chance to triple the seeds you receive during a lucky harvest event.
How It Works: During normal gameplay, when you get a “lucky harvest” that yields an extra seed, the Cuckoo has a tiny chance to triple that reward (giving you 3 seeds instead of 1).
Honest Assessment: This sounds better than it is in practice. Lucky harvests are already rare, and tripling them is even rarer. I’ve used this pet for over 10 hours and only triggered the triple effect twice.
When to Use It: Only if you’re specifically farming for rare seeds and have literally no better options. Otherwise, skip it.
Appearance: Brown and white patterned bird with distinctive cuckoo markings.
Rarity: Rare
Drop Rate: Lower (estimated 15-20%)
Ability: Functions as a significantly weaker version of the Blood Owl or Wisp pets, providing pet XP bonuses.
How It Works: The Brown Owl grants XP to your active pets, similar to how the Night Owl or Blood Owl function, but with reduced effectiveness.
Honest Assessment: This is unfortunately a downgrade compared to pets you can obtain from standard eggs. If you already have a Blood Owl, Night Owl, or even a regular Owl, the Brown Owl offers no advantage.
When to Use It: Early-game players who don’t have any XP-boosting pets yet might find some value, but I recommend saving your resources for better options.
Appearance: Rich brown feathers with piercing yellow eyes and a distinguished owl silhouette.
Rarity: Prismatic
Drop Rate: Very Low (estimated 3-5%)
Ability: Applies the new Goldsparkle mutation to crops with a very low chance.
How It Works: The Gold Finch randomly selects crops in your garden and has a small percentage chance to apply the exclusive Goldsparkle mutation, which presumably increases crop value.
Honest Assessment: Here’s where I need to be blunt—this is shockingly underwhelming for a Prismatic pet. It’s essentially a worse version of the Disco Bee (already considered one of the weakest Divine pets), but with Prismatic rarity.
Unless the Goldsparkle mutation provides a massive multiplier (which early testing suggests it doesn’t), this pet is a massive disappointment for its rarity tier.
When to Use It: Collection purposes only, or if you’re trying to complete mutation achievements. For actual gameplay value, dozens of Legendary and Divine pets outperform it.
Appearance: Brilliant golden feathers with shimmering effects and sparkle particles.
Rarity: Prismatic
Drop Rate: Very Low (estimated 2-4%)
Ability: Similar to the Bald Eagle but with a more complex and seemingly less effective ability.
How It Works: The Birb (yes, that’s the actual spelling—it’s meant to be a meme pet) has an ability reminiscent of the Bald Eagle pet, but player testing suggests it’s actually worse overall.
Honest Assessment: This is the rarest pet in the Bird Egg, and yet it performs worse than the Bald Eagle, which is only Legendary rarity and can be purchased with a few million Sheckles from regular eggs.
The community is pretty disappointed that a Prismatic rarity pet—something that should be incredibly rare and powerful—is outperformed by a Legendary that costs virtually nothing.
When to Use It: Collection purposes only. If you’re looking for actual gameplay value, invest in better pets from other eggs.
Appearance: Adorable, chubby bird with exaggerated cartoon features (deliberately designed as a “meme” pet).
Based on community testing and data collection from over 500 Bird Eggs hatched, here are the estimated drop rates:
| Pet | Rarity | Drop Rate | Eggs Needed (Average) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Black Bird | Common | ~45% | 2-3 eggs |
| Cuckoo | Uncommon | ~30% | 3-4 eggs |
| Brown Owl | Rare | ~18% | 5-6 eggs |
| Gold Finch | Prismatic | ~5% | 20 eggs |
| Birb | Prismatic | ~2% | 50 eggs |
Important Note: These rates are estimates based on community data. The actual rates may vary, and RNG (random number generation) means you could get lucky or unlucky.
The Premium Bird Egg is available for purchase with Robux (expected price: 149 Robux based on past event patterns).
My Honest Opinion: Only if you’re a serious collector or whale player.
Here’s my reasoning:
Pros:
Cons:
My Recommendation: Save your Robux for better events. The New Year’s Egg, Carnival Egg, and Jungle Egg all offer better value for premium purchases.
If you’re free-to-play, focus on the standard Bird Egg method—it’s absolutely possible to collect all pets without spending money if you’re dedicated.
The Bird Nest Event introduces a brand-new mutation called Goldsparkle.
Goldsparkle is an exclusive mutation that can only be applied by the Gold Finch pet. It adds a golden, sparkling visual effect to your crops.
Only Method: Have a Gold Finch pet active in your garden
The Gold Finch will randomly select crops and has a chance (exact percentage currently unknown) to apply the Goldsparkle mutation.
Current Data: The exact value multiplier is still being tested by the community. Early reports suggest it’s anywhere from 1.5x to 3x value, but this hasn’t been confirmed.
Unknown at this time. Testing is ongoing to determine if Goldsparkle can stack with other mutations like:
My Take: Wait for community data before heavily investing in Gold Finch pets specifically for this mutation.
If the multiplier is only 1.5x-2x, there are far better mutation sources available (Golden, Fortune, Celestial all offer superior benefits).
If it turns out to be 5x+ or stackable with other high-value mutations, then yes, it could be worthwhile.
After watching countless players struggle, here are the biggest mistakes I see people making:
Don’t do this! I watched players dump Transcendent crops, watermelons, and other valuable produce into the nest. This is wasteful.
Solution: Only use cheap, common crops. Carrots, lettuce, and tomatoes work perfectly.
Players get selected to feed the bird but don’t have the required food, missing their chance at a Bird Egg.
Solution: Keep a stockpile of at least 3-5 of every common cooking recipe. Check your cooking kit before each session.
Solo grinding takes forever. I spent 45 minutes on an empty server and only completed one cycle.
Solution: Always join servers with 10+ active players. Check the server list before spawning in.
Players buy Premium Bird Eggs and hatch them all immediately, then get duplicates.
Solution: Space out your hatching. Hatch one, check what you got, then decide if you want to continue.
Many players are disappointed because they expected Gold Finch and Birb to be game-changing.
Reality Check: These pets are collection items, not meta-defining powerhouses. Adjust your expectations.
If you’re a dedicated player looking to maximize this event, here are my pro-level strategies:
How It Works:
Why It Works: You’re essentially playing 3-4 events simultaneously instead of waiting through downtime.
My Results: Using this strategy, I increased my Bird Egg acquisition from 3 eggs per 2 hours to 8 eggs per 2 hours.
Instead of trying to prepare everything, specialize in 2-3 recipes that use common ingredients.
Best Recipes to Focus On:
Why It Works: You can mass-produce these and always be ready when the bird requests them.
Set up a dedicated section of your garden specifically for event crops:
My Setup: I dedicated a 10×10 plot exclusively to carrots with a Tree Frog active. This generated 100+ crops per hour with minimal effort.
If RNG isn’t favoring you, consider trading:
Current Market Rates (as of February 2026):
Trade Smart: Prices will drop significantly after the event ends. If you’re patient, wait 2-3 weeks for prices to stabilize lower.
Join the official Grow a Garden Discord and coordinate with other players:
Having played through every major Grow a Garden event, here’s how the Bird Nest Event stacks up:
Winner: New Year’s Event
The New Year’s Event offered significantly better pets (New Year’s Dragon is top-tier), more diverse rewards, and longer duration. The Bird Nest Event feels smaller in scope.
Winner: Feed a Pet Event (slightly)
Feed a Pet Event had better overall pet quality and more straightforward mechanics. Bird Nest Event requires more coordination but offers weaker rewards.
Winner: Carnival Event
Carnival Event pets were more balanced and useful. The Bird Egg pets are too weighted toward collection value rather than gameplay value.
Exclusivity: These pets will never be available again after January 24, 2026. If you’re a completionist, you need them.
The Experience: The cooperative server-wide mechanic is genuinely fun and creates community moments.
Mutation Collectors: Goldsparkle is exclusive to this event.
The Hungry Birds Event runs from January 17, 2026 to January 24, 2026—a total of 7 days.
Surprisingly, the Black Bird (Common) is the most useful for gameplay, as it effectively boosts pet weight/age like an improved Ostrich. For collectors, the Birb (Prismatic) is the rarest.
Feed crops to the bird nest platform (server-wide effort of 200 crops), then when the big bird appears, feed it the requested cooking recipe. You have a 30% chance to receive a Bird Egg as a reward.
Yes! Bird Egg pets can be traded using Trade Tickets in the trading plaza. Current prices range from 5 million (Black Bird) to 500 million Sheckles (Birb).
Once the event ends on January 24, 2026, Bird Eggs and their pets will become permanently unobtainable except through trading with other players who acquired them during the event.
Only if you’re a collector or want faster hatching (30 seconds vs 4+ hours). The pet pool is identical to the free Bird Egg, so free-to-play players can get everything without spending Robux.
This depends heavily on server activity. On active servers, you can complete 4-8 cycles per hour. With a 30% drop rate, expect 1-3 Bird Eggs per hour of active play on busy servers.
Goldsparkle is a new mutation that adds visual golden sparkle effects to crops and likely increases their value. The exact multiplier is still being tested by the community.
No, pet abilities only activate while you’re actively playing Grow a Garden. This includes all Bird Egg pets.
Yes! Pet abilities stack in Grow a Garden. Using multiple Gold Finch pets will increase your chances of applying the Goldsparkle mutation across your crops.
Based on past event patterns, event-exclusive eggs rarely return. The Bird Egg will likely remain exclusive to this event, though developers could bring it back in a future “throwback” event.
The standard Bird Egg takes 4 hours and 10 seconds to hatch. The Premium Bird Egg hatches in just 30 seconds.
Looking to maximize your Grow a Garden experience beyond the Bird Nest Event? Check out these helpful guides:
After spending over 15 hours grinding this event, here’s my honest assessment:
For Collectors: Absolutely play this event. You need these pets if you want a complete collection.
For Competitive Players: Skip it or play minimally. Your time is better spent on your main garden or preparing for the next event. The pets won’t significantly improve your farm’s performance.
For New Players: Great introduction to events! The cooperative mechanics are fun, and you’ll get at least a few pets even with limited playtime.
For Casual Players: Set realistic goals. Aim for the Common and Uncommon pets (Black Bird and Cuckoo). Don’t stress about the Prismatic pets unless you get lucky.
Personally, I’m going for completion because I’m a collector at heart, but I’m not expecting these pets to change my gameplay. If you’re on the fence, at least grab one Bird Egg to try it out—you might enjoy the community aspect more than you think!
The Bird Nest Event may not be the most powerful update Grow a Garden has seen, but it’s a charming, limited-time experience that brings the community together. And in a game that’s fundamentally about growing things patiently, sometimes that’s enough.
Happy hatching, and may the RNG gods bless your Bird Egg drops!
