Non-lethal effect has become an important part of predation risk, which shows increasing influence over density-mediated interaction. With complex anti-prey strategy and behavior, birds provide good examples for non-lethal effects study. This review summarized progress in non-lethal effects studies on birds. Previous work showed that non-lethal effects tolerance could affect individual fitness and population regulation and dynamics. Moreover, birds’ evaluation on non-lethal stimulation is influenced by many factors, eg. individual condition, perching height and group size. Knowledge and understanding of non-lethal effect on birds may play a key role in predation risk trade-off theory, population modelling, and coexistence of human being and birds.