The Downloads icon has been behaving this way since before version 9 of Safari. Perhaps you never noticed it because you did not clear the downloads list.


On a Mac since 1984.
Currently: 24" M1 iMac, M2 Pro Mac mini with 27" BenQ monitor, M2 Macbook Air, MacOS 14.x; iPhones, iPods (yes, still) and iPads.