GIMP Version: 2.8.18
Operating System: Linux
GIMP Experience: Basic Level

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I have a picture of a bird, blackish head, whitish body (bird.xcf). The image does have 3 other layers to provide a background.

If I open bird.xcf, click the Fuzzy Select Tool and click the bird's head, it is completely selected. This is great!
I did notice that no layer was selected in the Layer's Dialog.

So I closed bird.xcf and reopened. This time I clicked the bird layer (it's blue/selected) in the Layers Dialog first, then selected the Fuzzy Select Tool and clicked on the bird's head. Totally different results. Only a few colors/pixels were selected.

I expected to get the same results -- the complete head selected. What am I missing?

Is it possible to have no layer active in the Layers Dialog?
Since I selected the bird layer, how do I unselect it, so I'm back to no layer highlighted in the Layer's Dialog?

Difficult to say from the description.

There is always a layer selected. (Same for the tools in the toolbox - there is always a tool selected.)

Trying to think of causes of the problem:
1. Threshold for the fuzzy select tool. What was this set to on the two occasions?
2. Mode for the fuzzy select tool. (Replace, Add, Subtract, Intersect)
3. Wrong layer selected when using the fuzzy select tool. Even though the bird's head is visible, if a background layer is selected it will operate on that.

I'm sure others will chip in with some more ideas.

A layers Alpha Channel determines it's opacity. To make a selection out of a layers Alpha Channel you can hit Alt+Mouse Click the layer. Or if you want to work on a layer without changing the alpha channel you can simply click the Lock Alpha Channel button that is shown at the top of the Layers Dockable Dialog while that layer is selected.

No. There is always a drawable (Layer, Layer Mask or Channel) selected. This is an important distinction

Likely you didn't use the same threshold for the Fuzzy Select tool in both cases.

When I stop/start Gimp, open the image, and look at the Layers Dialog, no layer is selected. I expected to see a layer highlighted.

I wanted to isolate the situation and change as little as possible, so I just:
Test 1: stop/start Gimp, open the image, click the Fuzzy Select Tool, and click the head
Test 2: stop/start Gimp, open the image, click the bird layer, click the Fuzzy Select Tool, and click the head.



Your statement above got me thinking. There was a saved selection to Channel and another to Path. So I stop/start Gimp, opened the image, looked at the Layers Dialog (nothing selected), clicked the Channels Dialog (selection highlighted), clicked the Paths Dialog (selection highlighted). I deleted the Channels selection, saved the image to a new name, and repeated my test. Now it works as expected. In fact, as soon as I deleted the Channel selection, the Layer Dialog showed a selection without me even touching a layer.

I haven't worked with Channels much, everything I've done revolves around layers in the Layer Dialog. :-)

I have the standard Gimp dialogs opened (Layers, Channels, Paths). I constantly check the Layers Dialog to make sure what layer is active. I've worked with Layer Masks too. But I see now, either a layer or channel is active, but not both. If there is no layer active, there is a channel active. This was an ah-ha moment. :-)

When you save a selection to a channel, it becomes the active drawable. You have to select your layer to make it active again if you want to continue working on it (no need to delete the saved selection).