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<v Speaker 1>Imagine the place where you can escape for a day,

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<v Speaker 1>get immersed in a world of rooms, inspiration, and expertise

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<v Speaker 1>where you can lay luxury, accommodation and kids cam fees

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<v Speaker 1>from ninety five sets. Take ITTs are free to everyone

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<v Speaker 1>and include all the attractions you've just imagined a day

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<v Speaker 1>out at the kia Ikia the Wonderful every Day.

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<v Speaker 2>Oh hey, it's your little brother who gets up at

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<v Speaker 2>four thirty am on Christmas and jumps on your face

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<v Speaker 2>until you're awake because it's time to unwrap Tonka trucks

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<v Speaker 2>and drink Swiss miss with dehydrated marshmallows Ali Ward and

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<v Speaker 2>it's the holiday's kiddos. So, after asking Twitter if I

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<v Speaker 2>should take a week off or not, a lot of

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<v Speaker 2>you said no, bitch, get to work. I need a

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<v Speaker 2>new app and I respect that, but others convince me

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<v Speaker 2>to just be like an alive human and hang out

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<v Speaker 2>with my family and rest for a week. So you

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<v Speaker 2>are getting an encore episode of Birds now. Some of

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<v Speaker 2>you might even be listening to this to pregame for

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<v Speaker 2>the annual Autobahn Society's Christmas Bird Count, which great news

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<v Speaker 2>I just find out goes until January fifth. So if

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<v Speaker 2>you're inspired after this episode to do some bird counting,

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<v Speaker 2>a little bird watching, look up the Christmas bird count

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<v Speaker 2>and join a group in your area. You can do that.

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<v Speaker 2>You can meet new bird friends. And if you don't

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<v Speaker 2>think you care enough about birds yet to go outdoors

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<v Speaker 2>in head to toe fleece in the winter, just give

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<v Speaker 2>me an hour, give me one hour. This episode's going

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<v Speaker 2>to make a bird nerd out of you. Just wait. Okay,

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<v Speaker 2>So this was recorded last year and compared to newer episodes,

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<v Speaker 2>it has way fewer bells and whistles and by that

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<v Speaker 2>I mean DJ horns, but the passion is all there.

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<v Speaker 2>It has some bananas information you do not want to

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<v Speaker 2>miss Holy turkey butts. I loved recording it. But first,

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<v Speaker 2>a few things I just want to say up top.

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<v Speaker 2>A quick thank you to everyone who's been listening and sharing,

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<v Speaker 2>ologies and gramming and tweeting about it. Thank you to

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<v Speaker 2>patrons at patreon dot com slash ologies for supporting the

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<v Speaker 2>show submitting questions. You can join that club for a

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<v Speaker 2>dollar a month. Thank you to anyone getting shirts and

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<v Speaker 2>hats and tots at ologiesmerch dot com, and thank you

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<v Speaker 2>for rating and subscribing. Thank you for the reviews on

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<v Speaker 2>iTunes like a bird spotter hiding in the bushes with binoculars.

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<v Speaker 2>I just delight in encountering your reviews and I read

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<v Speaker 2>you a new one each week. John Lammers, thanks for

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<v Speaker 2>saying Ali Ward is largely responsible for the strange looks

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<v Speaker 2>I get walking to work, I hope, and bonus, the

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<v Speaker 2>pins in the merch section of the site are a

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<v Speaker 2>great way of silently self identifying as someone looking for

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<v Speaker 2>the super nerdy conversation at your next social gathering. Thanks

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<v Speaker 2>for that, John Lamers. Okay, onto the episode Ornithology Birds

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<v Speaker 2>but birds, birds, birds, birds, boyds, triper chirps, flabby flappers. Now,

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<v Speaker 2>the etymology of ornithology comes from the Greek ornis for bird.

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<v Speaker 2>Pretty straightforward. Now, I don't know how you feel about birds.

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<v Speaker 2>I've always had kind of like a distant wonder about them.

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<v Speaker 2>I don't know if birds would let me pet them.

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<v Speaker 2>I'm like, birds, do we even like me? And it

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<v Speaker 2>turns out yes, birds can think you're cool, which was

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<v Speaker 2>a surprise to me and maybe to you too. Okay,

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<v Speaker 2>here's the last year's birds, So listeners, you send in

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<v Speaker 2>questions before I record, and I was shocked that a

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<v Speaker 2>lot of the questions were like, why is insert species

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<v Speaker 2>such a dick? And why do birds poop on me?

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<v Speaker 2>And what did I ever do to birds? Was essentially

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<v Speaker 2>the gist of a lot of the questions. So we

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<v Speaker 2>definitely have a pr problem here, and this episode, I

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<v Speaker 2>think is going to turn you around because birds are Yes,

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<v Speaker 2>they are insane, and they have weird buttholes stay tuned,

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<v Speaker 2>and they can mock your voice and one of them

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<v Speaker 2>can mimic the sound of a chainsaw. Also, they're dinosaurs

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<v Speaker 2>that are alive. Now, if you were a bird publicist,

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<v Speaker 2>you'd be like, I don't even know where to start

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<v Speaker 2>with your personal brand, what is your deal? So let's

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<v Speaker 2>let an ornithologist speak for them, if you will. Now,

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<v Speaker 2>I've been aware of the more Lab of Zoology on

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<v Speaker 2>the Occidental College campus ps Obama. Went there for a

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<v Speaker 2>few years, and I was really stoked to get a

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<v Speaker 2>green light for a really last minute visit last week

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<v Speaker 2>with the collections manager at the lab, who oversees some

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<v Speaker 2>really really rare specimens. They date back some of them

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<v Speaker 2>as far as the seventeen nineties, and it's down to earth,

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<v Speaker 2>dryly funny. He was sporting a baseball cap and a

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<v Speaker 2>plaid shirt and a beard. He's like a mellow guy

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<v Speaker 2>in a beef jerky commercial. And he's so passionate and

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<v Speaker 2>knowledgeable about birds. I could have filled up three episodes

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<v Speaker 2>just answering your questions. But we chatted for a bit

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<v Speaker 2>and I asked all I could. And I feel a

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<v Speaker 2>kinship with birds that makes me want to wink at

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<v Speaker 2>them and say, hey, man, we're cool, So please enjoy

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<v Speaker 2>James Maylee. I just say, like, tell me what you

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<v Speaker 2>wait for breakfast? I'll check your levels.

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<v Speaker 3>I had some tater tots, eggs and bacon.

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<v Speaker 2>That sounds like a dope breakfast. And you are technically

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<v Speaker 2>an ornithologist?

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<v Speaker 3>Correct?

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<v Speaker 2>Right?

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<v Speaker 3>Yes?

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<v Speaker 2>So when did James become a card carrying ornithologist versus

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<v Speaker 2>a bird thirsty fanboy?

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<v Speaker 3>Since I believe the summer of two thousand and one

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<v Speaker 3>is when I started getting paid to conduct research on birds,

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<v Speaker 3>which I technically think is when you become an ornithologist.

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<v Speaker 2>Is when they pay you, or when you get a

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<v Speaker 2>certain certification.

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<v Speaker 3>When you get paid.

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<v Speaker 2>Okay, yeah, the first dollar exchange is and then you

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<v Speaker 2>change your business card?

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<v Speaker 3>Yeah?

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<v Speaker 2>Have you been a burder for a long time? Side note?

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<v Speaker 2>I edit from transcriptsive interviews done by artificial intelligence, and

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<v Speaker 2>this transcribed to have you been a burger for a

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<v Speaker 2>long time? Uh?

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<v Speaker 3>Yeah, I've been a burger for a long time. I

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<v Speaker 3>was super into birds when I was a little kid,

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<v Speaker 3>and then I didn't think birds were cool enough, so

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<v Speaker 3>I didn't pay attention to birds for a while. Then

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<v Speaker 3>I got back into birds in high school, and then

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<v Speaker 3>in college I went full in.

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<v Speaker 2>You went full Burdener.

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<v Speaker 3>Yep.

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<v Speaker 2>So like there was a period in junior high where

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<v Speaker 2>you were liked birds. No, I like Miami Vice. Yeah, exactly,

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<v Speaker 2>birds are like whatever. We'll see you in a couple

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<v Speaker 2>of years. Yep. Why did you start liking birds when

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<v Speaker 2>you were a kid?

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<v Speaker 3>Uh? My parents had feeders in the backyard and I

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<v Speaker 3>would just spend hours staring out the window at the birds.

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<v Speaker 3>And I was like two, so I was just really

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<v Speaker 3>really an them. I love seeing the colors and just

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<v Speaker 3>what they were doing. And I actually memorized all the

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<v Speaker 3>birds that came into the feeder. And I tricked my

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<v Speaker 3>parents into thinking I knew how to read, because they

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<v Speaker 3>would point to a bird in the feel Good and

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<v Speaker 3>I would say what it was. But I couldn't read

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<v Speaker 3>yet how old were you, I don't know, like two something.

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<v Speaker 2>So you were like mini bird genius. Yeah, James's uncle

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<v Speaker 2>is a big burder and his dad is into birds too.

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<v Speaker 3>I think they just thought it was natural to be

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<v Speaker 3>into birds.

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<v Speaker 2>Do you think it's in your genes?

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<v Speaker 3>Yeah?

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<v Speaker 2>I think so what does it mean to be a burder?

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<v Speaker 2>Because I'm not hip with like bird culture, but I

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<v Speaker 2>understand it is like the cult of ornithology. Like birders

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<v Speaker 2>they're out there with the binoculars, they count how many

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<v Speaker 2>species they see per year, Like what is that? Like?

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<v Speaker 2>How do you? How do you get jumped into that gang?

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<v Speaker 3>So there's a whole range of birders. There's casual birders

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<v Speaker 3>who just like birds and they'll have feeders up in

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<v Speaker 3>the yard or not and just look at birds and

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<v Speaker 3>appreciate them and not even really care that much about

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<v Speaker 3>what they're seeing and how many they're seeing. And then

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<v Speaker 3>there's the other extreme, which are listers.

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<v Speaker 2>Okay, so listers love numbers. They really focus on seeing

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<v Speaker 2>as many species as they can in a given place

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<v Speaker 2>at a given time. And for some reason during this part,

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<v Speaker 2>I couldn't stop gasping because this whole subculture just totally

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<v Speaker 2>delights and baffles me. Like I used to be a

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<v Speaker 2>goth in college, and every once in a while we'd

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<v Speaker 2>take someone who is not goth to a club and

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<v Speaker 2>they would be like, what is happening. We're like, Oh,

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<v Speaker 2>that guy smoking a cigarette out of a cigarette holder

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<v Speaker 2>he fashioned from computer parts. Oh, he's just a cybergth Like, oh,

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<v Speaker 2>that's a Victorian goth over there. So my introduction to

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<v Speaker 2>this bird world is like if you took a jock

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<v Speaker 2>and ducked him into a basement at a gothic industrial dungeon,

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<v Speaker 2>and we're just like, oh, yeah, there's a lot to learn.

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<v Speaker 3>And so anytime a rare bird shows up, they'll chase it.

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<v Speaker 3>So they'd get in their car or get in a

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<v Speaker 3>plane and fly there and try to see it. And

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<v Speaker 3>there's people that have done that for the world. A

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<v Speaker 3>big year for the world. I think the record was

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<v Speaker 3>just broken. It was like six thousand something species. It

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<v Speaker 3>was just insane.

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<v Speaker 2>So they'll hear like a duck build spoon bill that

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<v Speaker 2>is probably not a real bird, is like was seen

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<v Speaker 2>in Monterey, and then they'll go try to see if

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<v Speaker 2>they can catch that one before it flies somewhere else. Yep,

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<v Speaker 2>that's like the Dave Matthews band. People are like fish people.

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<v Speaker 2>You know what I mean, pH fish people? I mean right,

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<v Speaker 2>no one follows. So have you ever been have you

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<v Speaker 2>ever been kind of like embedded with a group of

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<v Speaker 2>a really zealous birders or what do you say? Your

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<v Speaker 2>work is kind of like being a professional lister.

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<v Speaker 3>I am not. I don't keep a list, Okay. I

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<v Speaker 3>keep track of the birds that I see generally, and

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<v Speaker 3>I know the ones I've seen and haven't seen. I

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<v Speaker 3>really enjoy birds, and I just like watching them all

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<v Speaker 3>the time, but I generally don't chase.

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<v Speaker 2>Okay, So, who has seen the most birds is? Right now?

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<v Speaker 2>The record seems to be one John Hornbuckle, who himself

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<v Speaker 2>sounds like a type of bird, like a hornbuckle john

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<v Speaker 2>boy anyway. Of the approximately ten thousand known species of birds,

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<v Speaker 2>John Hornbuckle has seen ninety six hundred, according to a

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<v Speaker 2>master list at surfbirds dot com. I also find it

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<v Speaker 2>really curious in looking at this list that he's like

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<v Speaker 2>the top burger in the world. But he's very blase,

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<v Speaker 2>and his name is an all lowercase. Everyone else's name

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<v Speaker 2>upper and lowercase umlats hyphens. He's just got one lowercase,

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<v Speaker 2>like he entered it while he was on his phone,

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<v Speaker 2>like in line of the post office, so casual. He

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<v Speaker 2>describes himself as a victim of an obsession for birding.

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<v Speaker 2>Like most addictions, it has its dangers, some of which

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<v Speaker 2>I have fallen foul love, but it has given me

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<v Speaker 2>much pleasure and purpose to life. I imagine John Hornbuckle

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<v Speaker 2>standing at a window cupping a mug of hot herbal

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<v Speaker 2>tea with these words running in a voiceover like a

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<v Speaker 2>pharmaceutical ad. Now, as I started getting deeper into the

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<v Speaker 2>cult of birding research, one story donkey kicked me right

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<v Speaker 2>in the heart. The record for one lister lifelong top

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<v Speaker 2>Birder belonged to a middle aged woman named Phoebe Snetsinger

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<v Speaker 2>who was diagnosed with a fatal cancer, and so she

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<v Speaker 2>turned her attention toward birding to lift her spirits. Get this.

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<v Speaker 2>Her cancer went into remission, but she had developed a

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<v Speaker 2>birding addiction that compelled her to travel around the world.

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<v Speaker 2>At times in severe peril. She was attacked by five

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<v Speaker 2>men with machetes and survived. I won't even go into

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<v Speaker 2>the details. And she continued her tracks. She kept going.

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<v Speaker 2>She missed her mother's funeral she missed her daughter's wedding

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<v Speaker 2>in a quest to see more birds, and cancer never

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<v Speaker 2>took her life. Rather, Phoebe was killed in a car

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<v Speaker 2>crash in Madagascar. Well birding, Oh man, who oh? What's

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<v Speaker 2>my point? People love birds? People love birds, which leads

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<v Speaker 2>me to realize birds are very lovable. This is such

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<v Speaker 2>a silly question. I'm sure you get asked this a

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<v Speaker 2>million times all the time. Do you have a favorite bird?

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<v Speaker 3>No, Okay, I don't, dang it. I have some birds

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<v Speaker 3>that I'm particularly fond of, and mostly it's the birds

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<v Speaker 3>that I've studied that I've gotten to know really really well.

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<v Speaker 3>So there's these birds in California called Ridgeways Rail. They're

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<v Speaker 3>only found in salt marshes in San Francisco, LA and

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<v Speaker 3>San Diego and a few places in between. So obviously

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<v Speaker 3>they're not doing great. They're endangered.

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<v Speaker 2>James studied the Ridgeway Rail for his dissertation and Baller Alert.

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<v Speaker 3>And actually I named them that you did. Yeah, that

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<v Speaker 3>was pretty cool me and my advisor did.

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<v Speaker 2>Okay, what was the what was the whiteboard like when

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<v Speaker 2>you were coming up with brainstorming names to get to

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<v Speaker 2>name a bird?

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<v Speaker 3>Well, so the scientific name was already decided because that

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<v Speaker 3>takes priority. But if there's no standardized common name, you

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<v Speaker 3>can come up with whatever standard English name you want to.

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<v Speaker 3>The scientific name is railis obsoletis whoa. So I didn't

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<v Speaker 3>want to go with obsolete rail because that's a little

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<v Speaker 3>too dark.

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<v Speaker 2>Yeah, it's a little insulting. Yeah, I'm right here, I know.

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<v Speaker 3>But they're almost gone, so maybe, and I went with

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<v Speaker 3>Ridgeways rail, which is a mouth. People complain about it

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<v Speaker 3>because it's hard to say, but a lot of bird

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<v Speaker 3>names are hard to say, so yeah, it's it's just

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<v Speaker 3>because they're not used to it right now.

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<v Speaker 2>Ridgeway's rail is I by the way, I've said Ridgeway's rail,

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<v Speaker 2>Ridgway rails. Ridgeway rails wrong several times. Ridgeway's rail is.

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<v Speaker 2>It's cute as hell. It's like this chicken sized bird.

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<v Speaker 2>It looks kind of like a cross between a duck

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<v Speaker 2>and a pigeon, and it's the color of like if

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<v Speaker 2>you were holding a yam and dropped it in potting soil.

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<v Speaker 2>It's cute. And Robert Ridgeway was this really influential and

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<v Speaker 2>amazing ornithologist. He was responsible for understanding a lot of

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<v Speaker 2>avian diversity.

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<v Speaker 3>He was the dude, and he has no bird in

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<v Speaker 3>the US named after him, so I wanted to pay

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<v Speaker 3>homage to him. And he described the first rails out here.

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<v Speaker 2>Did you hear from his family at all?

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<v Speaker 3>I haven't no, do they know? Maybe I don't shoot

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<v Speaker 3>him a tweet? Yeah, I should try.

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<v Speaker 2>I really really wanted the Ridgeway family to know about

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<v Speaker 2>this bird, so I took a research tangent and I

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<v Speaker 2>found out Robert Ridgeway had one child named Audubon, and yes,

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<v Speaker 2>he named his child after a bird painter, and Audobon himself,

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<v Speaker 2>an ornithologist, sadly died young in his twenties, no kids,

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<v Speaker 2>so he had no grandkids. So then I dove deeper

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<v Speaker 2>and I found out that Robert Ridgway's brother was also

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<v Speaker 2>a bird painter who worked at the La County Natural

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<v Speaker 2>History Museum. John Ridgeway lived in Glendale. So at nine

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<v Speaker 2>pm on a Friday night, I started to gently stalk

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<v Speaker 2>anyone with the last named Ridgeway from Glendale, California, and

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<v Speaker 2>I sent a few Facebook messages and friend requests saying, Hey,

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<v Speaker 2>I don't know if you're related to these ornithologists, but

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<v Speaker 2>I have some information about a bird that was named

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<v Speaker 2>after them. I even sent one message via LinkedIn. None

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<v Speaker 2>of my messages were returned, but I tried. I was

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<v Speaker 2>starting to watch the people related to the birdwatcher. That

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<v Speaker 2>a birdwatcher I know anyway, would you say that he's

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<v Speaker 2>kind of your ornithological hero a little bit?

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<v Speaker 3>Yeah? I mean he was doing ornithology at a time

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<v Speaker 3>that was really really different. But he has eye for

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<v Speaker 3>subtle differences and different populations and understanding how birds live

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<v Speaker 3>in this world. It was just amazing. Yeah.

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<v Speaker 2>I think about studying birds and what you do, and

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<v Speaker 2>I just can't imagine how big of a challenge it

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<v Speaker 2>is when you see something and it'll just a light

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<v Speaker 2>on a branch and then be gone. Is that like

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<v Speaker 2>a fun game to you or do you ever get

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<v Speaker 2>frustrated by that?

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<v Speaker 3>I definitely get frustrated sometimes. But when you bird as

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<v Speaker 3>much as I do, there's not you don't encounter that

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<v Speaker 3>many birds that you can't identify pretty quickly from site

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<v Speaker 3>and or sound. And so even if a bird lights

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<v Speaker 3>on a branch for a second, if I get a

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<v Speaker 3>good look at it, there's a pretty good chance I'll

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<v Speaker 3>know what it is.

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<v Speaker 2>You know what's up. Yeah, have you been through so

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<v Speaker 2>many different pairs of binoculars to find the best kind.

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<v Speaker 3>I actually don't own a pair of binoculars at the moment. Yeah,

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<v Speaker 3>how is that possible?

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<v Speaker 2>You're I know, it's ridiculous, Okay, listen, not this is crazy.

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<v Speaker 3>So my first pair of binoculars, I really loved those.

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<v Speaker 3>They they lasted for ten years. And I was robbed

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<v Speaker 3>at gunpoint in Honduras and they stole it, stole my pair.

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<v Speaker 3>So I lost my original pair, Oh my god. And

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<v Speaker 3>then I was given a pair by somebody else and

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<v Speaker 3>I left those on a table at the San Diego Zoo.

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<v Speaker 3>Not as traumatic as story. But then we have binoculars

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<v Speaker 3>here at the Moral Lab that i'd use. That I

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<v Speaker 3>just use.

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<v Speaker 2>What about the so in Honduras that was doing field work?

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<v Speaker 3>It was? Yeah?

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<v Speaker 2>Is that probably? I'm sure that's the most dramatic thing

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<v Speaker 2>that's happened, right or I mean the field work must

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<v Speaker 2>take you all over the all of the globe, right

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<v Speaker 2>it does.

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<v Speaker 3>Yeah. I've spent quite a bit of time in Peru, Panama,

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<v Speaker 3>Costa Rica, Honduras and Mexico, and those are the main

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<v Speaker 3>places have been, and a lot of time in Alaska

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<v Speaker 3>all over the state.

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<v Speaker 2>When you're doing field work. What's a typical day like

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<v Speaker 2>for you when you're not getting robbed at gunpoint, which,

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<v Speaker 2>by the way, I'm so sorry that happened. That's horrifying.

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<v Speaker 3>It was a while ago.

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<v Speaker 2>Yeah, field work for ornithologists can involve danger, clearly, and

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<v Speaker 2>it sounds otherwise kind of like camping, but also carrying

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<v Speaker 2>so much equipment and while taking notes on everything and

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<v Speaker 2>data and observations, and you don't get much sleep. So

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<v Speaker 2>on a recent expedition in Mexico.

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<v Speaker 3>Yeah, we were usually just exhausted and would just build

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<v Speaker 3>a campfire and you know, grab some tequila and just

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<v Speaker 3>chill out for an hour or two. Yeah.

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<v Speaker 2>So what is it about ornithology? Why do people go

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<v Speaker 2>so crazy for birds? Well, some social psychology studies point

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<v Speaker 2>two perhaps like a holdover instinct in humans just to

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<v Speaker 2>hunt stuff. I get it. I get it. I've spent

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<v Speaker 2>long hours, late nights on Amazon just looking up shit.

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<v Speaker 2>People go on eBay to buy old VHS tapes, other

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<v Speaker 2>people twitch for birds. Makes sense. Do you, as an

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<v Speaker 2>ornithologist have a favorite movie about birds or least favorite

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<v Speaker 2>movie about birds?

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<v Speaker 3>I honestly generally don't watch movies about birds because it's

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<v Speaker 3>usually so wrong. Like I've never seen the movie The

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<v Speaker 3>Big Year, which is all about birds.

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<v Speaker 2>Oh is it? I don't know that.

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<v Speaker 3>Yeah, it's with Jack Black and Steve Martin and Owen Wilson,

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<v Speaker 3>and it's all about these three birders who are trying

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<v Speaker 3>to break the record for most species seen in the

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<v Speaker 3>US and one year her an Aba area in one year.

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<v Speaker 2>And you're just like, no, we got so much wrong.

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<v Speaker 3>I don't know. I just don't want to, you know.

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<v Speaker 3>It's like I don't even want to look because I'm

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<v Speaker 3>like one of those I'm one of those people who

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<v Speaker 3>when I'm watching a movie and the wrong bird calls

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<v Speaker 3>in the background, I get super annoyed. So a lot

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<v Speaker 3>of movies for me, I have to like just pretend

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<v Speaker 3>that they're getting it right.

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<v Speaker 2>Like the bald eagle, Yeah, that's.

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<v Speaker 3>A classic one. These are red tailed hawks screech, yeah,

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<v Speaker 3>instead of Well, bald eagles sound pretty stupid.

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<v Speaker 2>So what do they sound like?

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<v Speaker 3>Uh, they kind of sound They're like high pitched and squealing.

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<v Speaker 2>How do you feel about the bald eagle being our

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<v Speaker 2>national bird rather than the turkey? Was it Ben Franklin

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<v Speaker 2>that said let's make the turkey or national bird.

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<v Speaker 3>That's my understanding, although I don't really know if that's true,

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<v Speaker 3>but that's what I've always understood, is that he wanted

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<v Speaker 3>the wild turkey to be the national bird. I would

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<v Speaker 3>actually rather be the wild turke, honestly, because turkeys are

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<v Speaker 3>super smart. They might not seem it, but they are.

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<v Speaker 3>They're very good at like outwitting us, and you know,

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<v Speaker 3>people go to great lengths to shoot them because they're

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<v Speaker 3>so smart and they have super good vision. I've lived

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<v Speaker 3>in Alaska for long enough to see kind of what

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<v Speaker 3>bald eagles really are. Yeah, which, if you ever go

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<v Speaker 3>to Homer, Alaska, they've been there. Did you look at

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<v Speaker 3>the dumpster behind the McDonald's because it was probably full

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<v Speaker 3>of eagles?

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<v Speaker 2>No, no, I have to go back.

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<v Speaker 3>Yeah, they're really scavengers. They Oh my god, they're sort

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<v Speaker 3>of There are some birds that only steal from other

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<v Speaker 3>birds and other things. They're called klepto parasites. But bald

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<v Speaker 3>eagles are not klepto parasites. They can catch their own food,

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<v Speaker 3>but more often than not, I've seen them steal food

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00:22:00.160 --> 00:22:03.559
<v Speaker 3>and like I saw one steal a flounder from a river, Otter.

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<v Speaker 3>It's like, come on that river Otter is just finally

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<v Speaker 3>caught his dinner and you steal it. This is rude.

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<v Speaker 2>That is a pretty American tradition. Yeah, in terms of

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<v Speaker 2>that Ben Franklin story, Okay, so we were both a

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<v Speaker 2>little bit wrong about this. He didn't push for the

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00:22:20.839 --> 00:22:23.720
<v Speaker 2>turkey to be the national bird. He just said later

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00:22:24.480 --> 00:22:26.279
<v Speaker 2>he threw a bunch of shade at it. In a

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<v Speaker 2>private letter to his daughter, he said, for my own part,

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<v Speaker 2>I wish the bald eagle had not been chosen as

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<v Speaker 2>representative of our country. He said, he's a bird of

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<v Speaker 2>bad moral character, and he does not get his living, honestly.

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00:22:40.960 --> 00:22:43.960
<v Speaker 2>Ben Franklin also said that, you know, the turkey is

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<v Speaker 2>a much more respectable bird. It's a little vain and silly,

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00:22:47.599 --> 00:22:50.279
<v Speaker 2>but it's a bird of courage. So then I typed

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<v Speaker 2>bald eagle plus dumpster into Google, and sure enough I

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00:22:54.240 --> 00:22:58.319
<v Speaker 2>found this all these eagles. So I don't know what's

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00:22:58.359 --> 00:23:02.200
<v Speaker 2>going on in this dumpster today. Something struck me as

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<v Speaker 2>kind of eerily familiar about the voice, and then I

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<v Speaker 2>realized it was just the honey tones of an Alaskan

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<v Speaker 2>who goes by Pam as a US and she had

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<v Speaker 2>a video that went viral a few years ago of

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<v Speaker 2>a bald eagle and a fox chilling on her porch.

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<v Speaker 2>I highly recommend just brewing yourself some decaf cozying up

414
00:23:22.319 --> 00:23:25.680
<v Speaker 2>to her channel because it is like weird bald eagle diaries.

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<v Speaker 2>It feels like you accidentally fell into someone else's dream.

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<v Speaker 2>Are there any myths or misconceptions about birds that you're like,

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<v Speaker 2>I got to go straight in there and bust that.

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00:23:39.160 --> 00:23:42.519
<v Speaker 3>That one bird brands is really aggravating because birds are

419
00:23:42.519 --> 00:23:47.799
<v Speaker 3>incredibly smart. I mean, they're that smart on a level

420
00:23:47.839 --> 00:23:53.680
<v Speaker 3>that we don't really appreciate. I feel like, so magpies

421
00:23:54.440 --> 00:23:56.559
<v Speaker 3>can recognize themselves in a mirror.

422
00:23:57.039 --> 00:24:00.359
<v Speaker 2>For more on this mirror self recognition test and its

423
00:24:00.440 --> 00:24:04.000
<v Speaker 2>history and which animals look in it and aren't like, hey,

424
00:24:04.240 --> 00:24:07.279
<v Speaker 2>I'm looking good, listen to the episode on primates.

425
00:24:07.480 --> 00:24:09.720
<v Speaker 3>There's not very many organisms that can do that, right,

426
00:24:09.799 --> 00:24:12.119
<v Speaker 3>I mean, cats, dogs, we think of them as kind

427
00:24:12.119 --> 00:24:14.839
<v Speaker 3>of smart, right, but they can't figure that out. But

428
00:24:14.920 --> 00:24:19.079
<v Speaker 3>birds can. They're tool users. I mean, parrots are just

429
00:24:19.240 --> 00:24:23.160
<v Speaker 3>unbelievably smart. The most famous one is a parrot that

430
00:24:23.200 --> 00:24:28.559
<v Speaker 3>was studied by Irene Pepperberg, who studied this really beautiful

431
00:24:28.680 --> 00:24:32.480
<v Speaker 3>African gray parrot and just incredible research done with that bird.

432
00:24:33.400 --> 00:24:37.279
<v Speaker 2>Look this up and whoa oh shit, y'all. Okay, the

433
00:24:37.279 --> 00:24:42.720
<v Speaker 2>Wikipedia for this bird just as Alex in parentheses parrot.

434
00:24:43.160 --> 00:24:45.759
<v Speaker 2>He just has one name. He's known like he's Adel

435
00:24:46.079 --> 00:24:49.279
<v Speaker 2>or Madonna. So Alex was an African gray parrot, and

436
00:24:49.359 --> 00:24:55.119
<v Speaker 2>researchers said his name stood for Avian Learning Experiment. So also,

437
00:24:55.160 --> 00:24:58.799
<v Speaker 2>when an acronym is made to spell a word, by

438
00:24:58.839 --> 00:25:03.119
<v Speaker 2>the way, that's called called a backronym, which delights me

439
00:25:03.160 --> 00:25:05.400
<v Speaker 2>because I always wondered when you see an acronym that's

440
00:25:05.440 --> 00:25:08.440
<v Speaker 2>like kind of like ugh, Okay, I guess that works

441
00:25:08.759 --> 00:25:12.640
<v Speaker 2>that there's actually a word for that. Backronyms are sometimes

442
00:25:12.680 --> 00:25:16.960
<v Speaker 2>created to name laws, and the official title of the

443
00:25:17.359 --> 00:25:22.400
<v Speaker 2>USA Patriot Act from two thousand and one is Uniting

444
00:25:22.480 --> 00:25:27.839
<v Speaker 2>and Strengthening America by providing appropriate tools required to intercept

445
00:25:27.880 --> 00:25:34.559
<v Speaker 2>and obstruct Terrorism. It spells USA Patriot. Okay, that's a stretch.

446
00:25:35.039 --> 00:25:38.799
<v Speaker 2>So Alex was said to have a one hundred word vocabulary,

447
00:25:38.920 --> 00:25:42.279
<v Speaker 2>this parrot, and the intelligence of a five year old human.

448
00:25:42.759 --> 00:25:45.079
<v Speaker 2>So what they say was really exceptional is that he

449
00:25:45.119 --> 00:25:48.599
<v Speaker 2>appeared to understand what he said so he could describe

450
00:25:48.640 --> 00:25:51.640
<v Speaker 2>a key as a key, no matter what color or

451
00:25:51.640 --> 00:25:53.480
<v Speaker 2>size it was. He's like, I know it's a key. Guys,

452
00:25:54.160 --> 00:25:55.880
<v Speaker 2>you put a key in front of me, I'm able

453
00:25:55.920 --> 00:25:59.119
<v Speaker 2>to say that's key. I also find this adorable. Alex

454
00:25:59.480 --> 00:26:04.079
<v Speaker 2>called an apple a banari, which one linguist thinks is

455
00:26:04.119 --> 00:26:08.240
<v Speaker 2>a combination of banana and cherry, which are two fruits.

456
00:26:08.400 --> 00:26:11.279
<v Speaker 2>He was down with. So he was in that lab

457
00:26:11.599 --> 00:26:14.839
<v Speaker 2>making up portmanteaus, and I think, frankly that makes him

458
00:26:14.839 --> 00:26:17.759
<v Speaker 2>a poet. He was also a bitch when he needed

459
00:26:17.759 --> 00:26:20.839
<v Speaker 2>to be. If he said want a banana and someone's like, okay,

460
00:26:20.880 --> 00:26:25.680
<v Speaker 2>here's a nut, he quote stared in silence, asked for

461
00:26:25.759 --> 00:26:29.319
<v Speaker 2>the banana again, or took the nut and threw it

462
00:26:29.359 --> 00:26:33.720
<v Speaker 2>at the researcher, or otherwise displayed annoyance before requesting the

463
00:26:33.759 --> 00:26:39.119
<v Speaker 2>item again. He's salty with those nuts, man. Now. Alex

464
00:26:39.440 --> 00:26:41.279
<v Speaker 2>died really young for a parrot. He was only thirty

465
00:26:41.319 --> 00:26:44.240
<v Speaker 2>one years old, and he died suddenly of heart trouble,

466
00:26:44.279 --> 00:26:46.759
<v Speaker 2>they think, and a lot of well cared for African

467
00:26:46.759 --> 00:26:49.200
<v Speaker 2>grays live like into their sixties. If you get an

468
00:26:49.240 --> 00:26:52.680
<v Speaker 2>African gray parrot, you're gonna die with that parrot. They

469
00:26:52.680 --> 00:26:56.400
<v Speaker 2>live kind of forever, so this is so precious. Just

470
00:26:56.920 --> 00:27:00.359
<v Speaker 2>grab onto your hearts, you guys. Alex's last words where

471
00:27:00.880 --> 00:27:04.799
<v Speaker 2>you'll be good, see you tomorrow, I love you, And

472
00:27:05.160 --> 00:27:07.000
<v Speaker 2>they were the same words he would say every night

473
00:27:07.279 --> 00:27:15.480
<v Speaker 2>when Irene Pepperberg left the lab feelings Speaking of birds speaking,

474
00:27:16.359 --> 00:27:19.160
<v Speaker 2>are there any birds that in the wild have the

475
00:27:19.200 --> 00:27:20.519
<v Speaker 2>most beautiful call to you?

476
00:27:20.960 --> 00:27:24.319
<v Speaker 3>I would say the one that I'm most commonly heard

477
00:27:24.400 --> 00:27:27.799
<v Speaker 3>as sandhill cranes. If you've ever been where there's big

478
00:27:27.839 --> 00:27:31.519
<v Speaker 3>flocks of sandhill cranes, there was this incredible trumpeting sound

479
00:27:31.599 --> 00:27:34.319
<v Speaker 3>that they do in the air, and they'll form these

480
00:27:34.440 --> 00:27:38.039
<v Speaker 3>huge flocks in the winter. They would come through fairbanks

481
00:27:38.079 --> 00:27:40.720
<v Speaker 3>in the fall, and their calls just, I don't know,

482
00:27:40.759 --> 00:27:42.519
<v Speaker 3>it's haunting, it's really beautiful.

483
00:27:43.079 --> 00:27:45.920
<v Speaker 2>Yeah, how about when? And I'm forgetting the name? Is

484
00:27:45.960 --> 00:27:47.279
<v Speaker 2>it a murmur of birds?

485
00:27:47.559 --> 00:27:48.039
<v Speaker 3>Murmurration?

486
00:27:48.359 --> 00:27:52.039
<v Speaker 2>Murmurration? Can you explain at all how a murmuration works?

487
00:27:52.519 --> 00:27:55.880
<v Speaker 2>A murmuration is a flock of birds like starlinks, in

488
00:27:55.920 --> 00:28:01.960
<v Speaker 2>these liquid looking formations. They're just they're bogglingly gorgeous to watch.

489
00:28:02.000 --> 00:28:05.359
<v Speaker 2>It's so weird. Look it up. It's like a living

490
00:28:05.720 --> 00:28:10.680
<v Speaker 2>lava lamp in fast motion. It's like a screensaver someone

491
00:28:10.720 --> 00:28:14.200
<v Speaker 2>would stare at in college while being on drugs in

492
00:28:14.240 --> 00:28:19.119
<v Speaker 2>the dorms or something. But like birds, because I look

493
00:28:19.160 --> 00:28:21.759
<v Speaker 2>at it and I'm like, oh, that's that's like witchcraft,

494
00:28:21.839 --> 00:28:25.279
<v Speaker 2>Like that's so beautiful and crazy. Is it fluid dynamics?

495
00:28:25.359 --> 00:28:28.400
<v Speaker 2>Is it? Is it like crowd thing? How do they

496
00:28:28.400 --> 00:28:28.680
<v Speaker 2>do that?

497
00:28:28.880 --> 00:28:29.599
<v Speaker 3>I have no idea.

498
00:28:29.759 --> 00:28:35.359
<v Speaker 2>Okay, I could make something up a little info on that.

499
00:28:35.799 --> 00:28:39.160
<v Speaker 2>So murmurations tend to happen when there's a predator around

500
00:28:39.279 --> 00:28:42.359
<v Speaker 2>and the birds are evading it. And this is really cool.

501
00:28:42.400 --> 00:28:45.319
<v Speaker 2>It doesn't matter the size of the flock. Each bird

502
00:28:45.799 --> 00:28:48.640
<v Speaker 2>is reacting not to the size of a huge flock,

503
00:28:48.720 --> 00:28:52.359
<v Speaker 2>but just to the seven birds around it. They calculated this.

504
00:28:52.759 --> 00:28:55.960
<v Speaker 2>They used physics. I don't know. Some Italian researchers came

505
00:28:56.000 --> 00:28:58.960
<v Speaker 2>up with it. So it's like you're super in tune

506
00:28:59.000 --> 00:29:01.480
<v Speaker 2>with your little posse and then a bunch of little

507
00:29:01.480 --> 00:29:07.519
<v Speaker 2>posse's make up this one big, swirling, diving, massive monster posse.

508
00:29:07.839 --> 00:29:10.519
<v Speaker 3>I mean, it's incredible. I know, I love watching it.

509
00:29:10.519 --> 00:29:13.319
<v Speaker 3>It's amazing. I've seen it so many times and I've

510
00:29:13.319 --> 00:29:15.359
<v Speaker 3>never seen them like crash.

511
00:29:15.400 --> 00:29:17.160
<v Speaker 2>Did you care about dinosaurs when you were a kid,

512
00:29:17.240 --> 00:29:19.640
<v Speaker 2>or do you care about the link that birds are

513
00:29:19.680 --> 00:29:23.839
<v Speaker 2>dinosaurs or do you are you like dinosaurs? Can take

514
00:29:23.839 --> 00:29:24.680
<v Speaker 2>it a hike, Take a hike.

515
00:29:24.759 --> 00:29:26.559
<v Speaker 3>Okay, I love dinosaurs. When I was a little kid.

516
00:29:26.599 --> 00:29:30.480
<v Speaker 3>Oh really, it was super into dinosaurs, and I didn't

517
00:29:30.559 --> 00:29:33.799
<v Speaker 3>make the connection between birds and dinosaurs. And I don't

518
00:29:33.799 --> 00:29:38.440
<v Speaker 3>think scientists had solidified that until I had gotten super

519
00:29:38.480 --> 00:29:39.079
<v Speaker 3>into birds.

520
00:29:39.279 --> 00:29:39.519
<v Speaker 2>M h.

521
00:29:40.079 --> 00:29:42.000
<v Speaker 3>I like to remind myself every now and again. Then

522
00:29:42.000 --> 00:29:43.400
<v Speaker 3>I'm going dinosaur watching.

523
00:29:45.400 --> 00:29:49.519
<v Speaker 2>You're going dinosaur Yeah, correct me if I'm wrong. I

524
00:29:49.559 --> 00:29:53.599
<v Speaker 2>feel like if Steve Jobs had to design an orifice,

525
00:29:53.880 --> 00:29:58.000
<v Speaker 2>it would be a kloeca. So simple, it's one thing.

526
00:30:00.039 --> 00:30:03.400
<v Speaker 2>Kloaca is his like the home button on an iPhone.

527
00:30:03.480 --> 00:30:05.839
<v Speaker 2>It's really all you need. It's a one stop shop

528
00:30:05.920 --> 00:30:09.960
<v Speaker 2>for liquid waste, solid waste, and then as bonus, it's

529
00:30:10.000 --> 00:30:13.200
<v Speaker 2>also a sex portal. So birds get it on via

530
00:30:13.279 --> 00:30:18.400
<v Speaker 2>what is called no joke, a chloacal kiss. They just

531
00:30:18.440 --> 00:30:22.519
<v Speaker 2>smooch butts, sometimes only for a few seconds. Now, if

532
00:30:22.519 --> 00:30:26.960
<v Speaker 2>you've heard gossip about like duck mating, well a lot

533
00:30:26.960 --> 00:30:30.559
<v Speaker 2>of it might be true waterfowl gonads. Google it or

534
00:30:30.640 --> 00:30:33.079
<v Speaker 2>you can go straight to an article on that geo

535
00:30:33.200 --> 00:30:39.160
<v Speaker 2>called duck penises grow Bigger among rivals, which was written

536
00:30:39.200 --> 00:30:42.680
<v Speaker 2>by a friend of mine, Jason Goldman, who's a wildlife journalist,

537
00:30:43.519 --> 00:30:47.880
<v Speaker 2>great icebreaker topics. He covers some good ones. Now back

538
00:30:47.920 --> 00:30:52.759
<v Speaker 2>to Kloika's why is it? Reptiles and birds are just

539
00:30:52.839 --> 00:30:56.880
<v Speaker 2>like I got a single port here, don't worry about it.

540
00:30:57.920 --> 00:31:03.960
<v Speaker 3>They have a whole different physiological mechanism for waste excretion

541
00:31:04.039 --> 00:31:09.839
<v Speaker 3>than we do and reproduction. So yeah, they all have

542
00:31:10.000 --> 00:31:12.680
<v Speaker 3>internal gonads too, which it would be weird if they didn't.

543
00:31:12.920 --> 00:31:15.400
<v Speaker 2>Yeah, that would be yeah.

544
00:31:15.920 --> 00:31:18.200
<v Speaker 3>But they have a really different sort of kidney system

545
00:31:18.240 --> 00:31:21.240
<v Speaker 3>than we do, and so they are able to produce

546
00:31:21.240 --> 00:31:23.799
<v Speaker 3>their waste sort of as one product and shoot it out.

547
00:31:23.839 --> 00:31:29.720
<v Speaker 3>It's much more efficient. They're not as good at excreting

548
00:31:30.039 --> 00:31:33.079
<v Speaker 3>salt from their blood with their kidneys as much as

549
00:31:33.119 --> 00:31:36.400
<v Speaker 3>weed are. But a lot of birds have a salt

550
00:31:36.440 --> 00:31:38.880
<v Speaker 3>gland in their head. Well, they have two salt glands

551
00:31:38.880 --> 00:31:41.720
<v Speaker 3>in their head, so it isn't all out of one.

552
00:31:43.319 --> 00:31:45.559
<v Speaker 2>They excrete salt from a gland in their head.

553
00:31:45.720 --> 00:31:46.039
<v Speaker 3>They do.

554
00:31:46.079 --> 00:31:48.640
<v Speaker 2>It's nothing crazy and weird about that or anything.

555
00:31:48.799 --> 00:31:52.799
<v Speaker 3>Nope. Yeah, they're these like little mini kidneys that rest

556
00:31:52.839 --> 00:31:55.680
<v Speaker 3>on the top of their skull, and they filter salt

557
00:31:55.759 --> 00:32:00.319
<v Speaker 3>out of the blood. It's super high efficiency so that

558
00:32:00.759 --> 00:32:03.519
<v Speaker 3>they can drink sea water, so like seabirds can drink

559
00:32:03.519 --> 00:32:06.720
<v Speaker 3>the ocean water and it's no problem. But if you're

560
00:32:08.200 --> 00:32:10.240
<v Speaker 3>ever on the beach and you see a gull with

561
00:32:10.279 --> 00:32:13.720
<v Speaker 3>a with a droplet dripping off the tip of its bill,

562
00:32:14.240 --> 00:32:17.400
<v Speaker 3>that's salt water that's excreted from their salt glands, so

563
00:32:17.440 --> 00:32:20.319
<v Speaker 3>it comes out the nostrils and drips down off the

564
00:32:20.359 --> 00:32:21.000
<v Speaker 3>hook of the bill.

565
00:32:21.599 --> 00:32:24.480
<v Speaker 2>So there they have a n asshole, I guess. Yeah,

566
00:32:24.839 --> 00:32:26.799
<v Speaker 2>so they're peeing out of their face pretty much, no

567
00:32:26.839 --> 00:32:27.240
<v Speaker 2>big deal.

568
00:32:27.319 --> 00:32:29.160
<v Speaker 3>Yeah.

569
00:32:29.240 --> 00:32:31.640
<v Speaker 2>I wonder if they'll ever study that that method of

570
00:32:31.680 --> 00:32:35.440
<v Speaker 2>excretion in terms of like a desalination, you know, like,

571
00:32:35.680 --> 00:32:37.559
<v Speaker 2>will they ever look at that, like a maybe we

572
00:32:37.599 --> 00:32:42.720
<v Speaker 2>can attach that as a backpack so seafarers can. I

573
00:32:42.720 --> 00:32:47.200
<v Speaker 2>don't know, I'm applying for a patent. Moving on, I

574
00:32:47.200 --> 00:32:51.519
<v Speaker 2>have a question about male and female birds. Okay, why

575
00:32:51.640 --> 00:32:54.880
<v Speaker 2>is it that, at least in the human species, ladies

576
00:32:55.039 --> 00:32:58.359
<v Speaker 2>were painting our faces, we're dressing up. Men are like whatever,

577
00:32:58.359 --> 00:33:01.960
<v Speaker 2>I'm wearing beige again. Why is it in birds the

578
00:33:02.000 --> 00:33:04.519
<v Speaker 2>men are very decked out and fancy, and the ladies

579
00:33:04.559 --> 00:33:07.480
<v Speaker 2>are like, I'm a little bit bigger and I'm beige.

580
00:33:07.839 --> 00:33:11.480
<v Speaker 3>So that's not always the case in birds. There are

581
00:33:11.519 --> 00:33:13.920
<v Speaker 3>some species in which the females are much brighter than

582
00:33:13.920 --> 00:33:17.200
<v Speaker 3>the males. Yeah, and they have a different mating system.

583
00:33:17.960 --> 00:33:21.640
<v Speaker 3>So in the vast majority of birds, about ninety percent

584
00:33:21.680 --> 00:33:24.839
<v Speaker 3>of species, they're monogamous. And in a lot of those

585
00:33:25.400 --> 00:33:28.480
<v Speaker 3>there you can't tell males and females apart at all.

586
00:33:28.880 --> 00:33:34.400
<v Speaker 3>Oh but in situations where there's really strong sexual selection

587
00:33:34.839 --> 00:33:39.240
<v Speaker 3>on males that's put on them by females, and in

588
00:33:39.240 --> 00:33:45.279
<v Speaker 3>a lot of those situations it's a there's a like

589
00:33:45.279 --> 00:33:49.319
<v Speaker 3>a resource involved, so there's like resource defense. Polygyny is

590
00:33:49.359 --> 00:33:53.880
<v Speaker 3>one system where a male with a like really bright ornament,

591
00:33:53.880 --> 00:33:57.799
<v Speaker 3>who's like the strongest male defends a resource and all

592
00:33:57.799 --> 00:34:00.240
<v Speaker 3>the females that come in can like mate with him.

593
00:34:00.480 --> 00:34:03.559
<v Speaker 2>Is that that's polygyny. That's the opposite of monogamy.

594
00:34:03.880 --> 00:34:08.679
<v Speaker 3>Nologeny is one male, multiple females, got it. Polyandry is

595
00:34:10.559 --> 00:34:14.000
<v Speaker 3>one female multiple males. Oh and in those birds, the

596
00:34:14.039 --> 00:34:15.079
<v Speaker 3>females are brighter than the.

597
00:34:15.039 --> 00:34:21.719
<v Speaker 2>Males really yep, So whoever is kind of attracting the

598
00:34:21.760 --> 00:34:23.599
<v Speaker 2>most mates is going to be as decked out.

599
00:34:25.719 --> 00:34:29.639
<v Speaker 3>And the birds that have probably the craziest like difference

600
00:34:29.639 --> 00:34:32.000
<v Speaker 3>between males and females are these birds that do a

601
00:34:32.039 --> 00:34:35.519
<v Speaker 3>thing called lacking. If you don't know what lacking is,

602
00:34:35.559 --> 00:34:40.159
<v Speaker 3>it's pretty fantastic. So what happens is these males they

603
00:34:40.199 --> 00:34:44.360
<v Speaker 3>all gather together and display. They're not displaying to each other,

604
00:34:44.639 --> 00:34:47.239
<v Speaker 3>they're displaying to any female that will come in.

605
00:34:47.559 --> 00:34:52.000
<v Speaker 2>What you know, how, sometimes it's secretly awesome to have

606
00:34:52.039 --> 00:34:55.159
<v Speaker 2>a cold because you're in quarantine. You're not allowed to

607
00:34:55.199 --> 00:34:58.239
<v Speaker 2>breathe on anyone, so you can just sit alone and

608
00:34:58.280 --> 00:35:01.639
<v Speaker 2>watch weird videos for like a week. So I just

609
00:35:01.800 --> 00:35:07.119
<v Speaker 2>sampled a few minutes of lecking videos. It's l e

610
00:35:07.599 --> 00:35:11.000
<v Speaker 2>kki n G and I want to go lick some doorknobs.

611
00:35:11.119 --> 00:35:13.599
<v Speaker 2>I just want to get up in some Nike will

612
00:35:14.079 --> 00:35:16.840
<v Speaker 2>and some of these videos, Oh, they're so good.

613
00:35:17.559 --> 00:35:21.199
<v Speaker 3>And so they just do all these crazy elaborate displays,

614
00:35:21.800 --> 00:35:25.239
<v Speaker 3>and the one who's looking the best and is displaying

615
00:35:25.280 --> 00:35:26.840
<v Speaker 3>the best gets the females.

616
00:35:27.360 --> 00:35:30.360
<v Speaker 2>It's a Miss Universe pageant, but with male birds pretty.

617
00:35:30.159 --> 00:35:33.039
<v Speaker 3>Much Yep, it's really incredible.

618
00:35:33.519 --> 00:35:36.559
<v Speaker 2>Yeah, do you have a favorite documentary about birds, Life

619
00:35:36.559 --> 00:35:38.440
<v Speaker 2>of Birds, Yeah, yeah, the whole thing.

620
00:35:39.199 --> 00:35:39.480
<v Speaker 3>Yeah.

621
00:35:39.559 --> 00:35:40.159
<v Speaker 2>Is it a series?

622
00:35:40.320 --> 00:35:43.480
<v Speaker 3>Yeah, it's a six part series by BBC, narrated by

623
00:35:43.559 --> 00:35:44.800
<v Speaker 3>David Attenborough. Of course.

624
00:35:45.719 --> 00:35:48.920
<v Speaker 2>I watched Planet Ear at the Albatross portion where he

625
00:35:49.039 --> 00:35:51.039
<v Speaker 2>was waiting for his mate to come back. I was like,

626
00:35:51.079 --> 00:35:52.960
<v Speaker 2>should I be crying right now? Because I am?

627
00:35:53.119 --> 00:35:55.320
<v Speaker 3>Yeah, you should be okay? Yeah.

628
00:35:55.360 --> 00:35:58.039
<v Speaker 2>How did you feel about Portlandia's sketch about put a

629
00:35:58.039 --> 00:35:58.519
<v Speaker 2>bird on it?

630
00:35:58.920 --> 00:36:02.199
<v Speaker 3>I loved it. If you put a bird on it,

631
00:36:02.440 --> 00:36:05.519
<v Speaker 3>people will buy it. I'm the same way. It doesn't matter,

632
00:36:05.599 --> 00:36:07.440
<v Speaker 3>like if I see a product with a bird on it,

633
00:36:07.599 --> 00:36:08.280
<v Speaker 3>that will buy it.

634
00:36:09.320 --> 00:36:11.679
<v Speaker 2>Do people give you a lot of birdie gifts?

635
00:36:12.000 --> 00:36:15.440
<v Speaker 3>Yes? All words? Yeah, yeah, books, everything.

636
00:36:16.239 --> 00:36:17.719
<v Speaker 2>Do you ever get sick of it or you like,

637
00:36:17.760 --> 00:36:18.159
<v Speaker 2>bring it on?

638
00:36:18.599 --> 00:36:21.400
<v Speaker 3>I'm fine with it. Yeah, it makes it easier. Yeah.

639
00:36:21.400 --> 00:36:24.519
<v Speaker 3>And everybody who would get me anything knows that. Just

640
00:36:24.559 --> 00:36:26.280
<v Speaker 3>get them something with a bird you'll be thrilled.

641
00:36:28.039 --> 00:36:30.039
<v Speaker 2>Okay. I have some questions from listeners. Are you ready?

642
00:36:30.119 --> 00:36:30.320
<v Speaker 3>Yep?

643
00:36:30.559 --> 00:36:33.519
<v Speaker 2>Warning some of these might be very stupid. Okay, those

644
00:36:33.519 --> 00:36:34.239
<v Speaker 2>are the best kind.

645
00:36:34.280 --> 00:36:34.639
<v Speaker 3>All right.

646
00:36:34.719 --> 00:36:38.519
<v Speaker 2>We're going to start with patrion listeners. They get first

647
00:36:38.599 --> 00:36:42.599
<v Speaker 2>crack Okay, but before we take questions from you, our

648
00:36:42.599 --> 00:36:45.039
<v Speaker 2>beloved listeners, we're going to take a quick break for

649
00:36:45.119 --> 00:36:48.119
<v Speaker 2>sponsors of the show. Sponsors. Why sponsors, You know what

650
00:36:48.119 --> 00:36:50.880
<v Speaker 2>they do? They help us give money to different charities

651
00:36:50.920 --> 00:36:53.199
<v Speaker 2>every week. So if you want to know where Ologies

652
00:36:53.239 --> 00:36:56.239
<v Speaker 2>gives our money, you can go to aliword dot com

653
00:36:56.280 --> 00:36:59.159
<v Speaker 2>and look for the tab Ologies gives back. There's like

654
00:36:59.280 --> 00:37:01.519
<v Speaker 2>one hundred and fIF dealer from charities that we've given

655
00:37:01.559 --> 00:37:04.440
<v Speaker 2>to already, with more every single week. So if you

656
00:37:04.519 --> 00:37:06.039
<v Speaker 2>need a place to go, donate a little bit of

657
00:37:06.079 --> 00:37:08.000
<v Speaker 2>money but you're not sure where to go. Those are

658
00:37:08.039 --> 00:37:12.000
<v Speaker 2>all picked biologists who work in those fields, and this

659
00:37:12.119 --> 00:37:15.119
<v Speaker 2>ad break allows us to give a ton of money

660
00:37:15.159 --> 00:37:18.119
<v Speaker 2>to them. So thanks for listening and thank sponsors.

661
00:37:18.719 --> 00:37:22.000
<v Speaker 1>Imagine the place where you can escape for a day,

662
00:37:22.800 --> 00:37:27.320
<v Speaker 1>get immersed in a world of rooms, inspiration, and expertise

663
00:37:27.920 --> 00:37:33.000
<v Speaker 1>where you can lay in luxury accommodation than kids cam

664
00:37:33.079 --> 00:37:38.880
<v Speaker 1>fees from ninety five sets. Tickets are free to everyone

665
00:37:39.119 --> 00:37:44.079
<v Speaker 1>and include all the attractions you've just imagined. A day

666
00:37:44.239 --> 00:37:48.280
<v Speaker 1>out at the Kia Aikia the Wonderful every day.

667
00:37:49.119 --> 00:37:53.159
<v Speaker 2>Okay, your questions. John Worster wants to know how fast

668
00:37:53.159 --> 00:37:55.599
<v Speaker 2>do hummingbirds beat their wings? And how many calories a

669
00:37:55.719 --> 00:37:56.440
<v Speaker 2>day do they need?

670
00:37:57.559 --> 00:38:00.039
<v Speaker 3>I don't know the question the answer to either of

671
00:38:00.039 --> 00:38:00.559
<v Speaker 3>those questions.

672
00:38:00.599 --> 00:38:03.039
<v Speaker 2>Yes, I'll lock it up. I could google it, all right, John,

673
00:38:03.199 --> 00:38:05.599
<v Speaker 2>I looked it up. Here's the deal. The fastest recorded

674
00:38:05.639 --> 00:38:08.119
<v Speaker 2>rate is about eighty beats per second, but the average

675
00:38:08.159 --> 00:38:10.559
<v Speaker 2>is around fifty three beats per second. And these tiny

676
00:38:10.559 --> 00:38:14.480
<v Speaker 2>birds consume between three point one four and seven point

677
00:38:14.559 --> 00:38:18.639
<v Speaker 2>six calories a day, which totally non scientific estimate. I

678
00:38:18.679 --> 00:38:21.119
<v Speaker 2>think that's like a sip of soda.

679
00:38:21.199 --> 00:38:24.159
<v Speaker 3>But I know that. So hummingbird's the smallest humming bird

680
00:38:24.239 --> 00:38:26.760
<v Speaker 3>on Earth. The b hummingbird in Cuba has a heart

681
00:38:26.840 --> 00:38:30.679
<v Speaker 3>rate of twelve hundred beats per minute, so super high metabolism.

682
00:38:30.880 --> 00:38:35.559
<v Speaker 3>And they have to drink some nectar like pretty much

683
00:38:35.599 --> 00:38:37.840
<v Speaker 3>as soon as they wake up. So I have hummingbird

684
00:38:37.840 --> 00:38:41.760
<v Speaker 3>feeders at my house and they're out there well before dawn,

685
00:38:42.119 --> 00:38:46.079
<v Speaker 3>the feeders covered. If they don't get some sugar water

686
00:38:46.159 --> 00:38:48.800
<v Speaker 3>after a long night, they're they're dead.

687
00:38:49.360 --> 00:38:50.480
<v Speaker 2>They're chasing that dragon.

688
00:38:51.440 --> 00:38:54.760
<v Speaker 3>But they're also on a constant sugar high.

689
00:38:55.079 --> 00:38:57.800
<v Speaker 2>No wonder why they're heart rate so high. Yep, at

690
00:38:58.440 --> 00:39:00.639
<v Speaker 2>least it's not caffeinated at least not like a monster

691
00:39:00.760 --> 00:39:03.519
<v Speaker 2>energy drink and your bird feeder. That would be insane.

692
00:39:04.599 --> 00:39:07.719
<v Speaker 2>Jordan asked, wants to know why do Australian magpies attack

693
00:39:07.800 --> 00:39:09.480
<v Speaker 2>people during swooping season?

694
00:39:11.360 --> 00:39:16.800
<v Speaker 3>So I'm not familiar with Australian magpies, but I'm guessing

695
00:39:16.880 --> 00:39:19.639
<v Speaker 3>that that's when they're nesting and they want you to

696
00:39:19.639 --> 00:39:21.320
<v Speaker 3>get away from their nest or they're young. I mean,

697
00:39:21.360 --> 00:39:24.239
<v Speaker 3>that's usually the answer to why a bird is swooping

698
00:39:24.280 --> 00:39:24.559
<v Speaker 3>at you.

699
00:39:24.760 --> 00:39:27.280
<v Speaker 2>That means get away from my babies. Yep, okay, so

700
00:39:27.320 --> 00:39:30.119
<v Speaker 2>get away from their babies. That's how you stop that exactly.

701
00:39:30.920 --> 00:39:33.440
<v Speaker 2>Paul Hanley wants to know what's the deal with Vox

702
00:39:33.480 --> 00:39:36.760
<v Speaker 2>swifts and chimneys. Swifts and chimneys? Do you know anything

703
00:39:36.760 --> 00:39:37.079
<v Speaker 2>about this?

704
00:39:37.440 --> 00:39:40.159
<v Speaker 3>I do well. First of all, it's Vox's.

705
00:39:39.760 --> 00:39:43.599
<v Speaker 2>Swift, thank you. It was Vaux, and I went for

706
00:39:43.639 --> 00:39:44.480
<v Speaker 2>the fancy.

707
00:39:44.119 --> 00:39:47.719
<v Speaker 3>Pronunciation everybody does. But the guy's last name was Vox.

708
00:39:47.920 --> 00:39:48.880
<v Speaker 3>Who it's named after.

709
00:39:50.159 --> 00:39:53.519
<v Speaker 2>Gosh, I tried. I overshot that one.

710
00:39:53.639 --> 00:39:58.039
<v Speaker 3>Yeah, No, it's okay, it's common, very very common. They're

711
00:39:58.119 --> 00:40:02.199
<v Speaker 3>super similar, but they're basically just Eastern and Western replacements

712
00:40:02.199 --> 00:40:04.119
<v Speaker 3>for one another. So boxes are only in the west

713
00:40:04.159 --> 00:40:06.400
<v Speaker 3>and chimneys are only in the east. You can tell

714
00:40:06.440 --> 00:40:09.320
<v Speaker 3>them apart, but you almost never find them together, so

715
00:40:09.440 --> 00:40:11.559
<v Speaker 3>you can pretty much know which one you're looking at

716
00:40:11.679 --> 00:40:12.679
<v Speaker 3>depending on where you are.

717
00:40:13.000 --> 00:40:15.199
<v Speaker 2>Zoe wants to know. Is bird watching a gateway drug

718
00:40:15.239 --> 00:40:17.039
<v Speaker 2>to ornithology?

719
00:40:17.119 --> 00:40:17.559
<v Speaker 3>It can be.

720
00:40:17.719 --> 00:40:20.840
<v Speaker 2>Okay, yeah, so watch yourself unless you want to become

721
00:40:20.840 --> 00:40:23.679
<v Speaker 2>an ornithologist and start getting paid for it. Don't get

722
00:40:23.719 --> 00:40:24.159
<v Speaker 2>into birding.

723
00:40:24.199 --> 00:40:25.039
<v Speaker 3>It's not a bad gig.

724
00:40:26.039 --> 00:40:29.880
<v Speaker 2>Michael Sandembaga said, how smart are crows because they definitely

725
00:40:29.960 --> 00:40:31.599
<v Speaker 2>seem like they're watching me plotting something.

726
00:40:32.559 --> 00:40:35.960
<v Speaker 3>Crows are incredibly smart, and they are watching and plotting something,

727
00:40:36.079 --> 00:40:39.519
<v Speaker 3>so they can recognize faces of people.

728
00:40:39.639 --> 00:40:39.960
<v Speaker 2>Mm hm.

729
00:40:40.400 --> 00:40:43.440
<v Speaker 3>They all also have their own dialect, so they have

730
00:40:43.480 --> 00:40:46.039
<v Speaker 3>their own voices and they can recognize each other by voice.

731
00:40:46.320 --> 00:40:48.119
<v Speaker 3>They all sound the same to us, but they're not.

732
00:40:49.400 --> 00:40:51.719
<v Speaker 3>There's some really really cool studies that people have done,

733
00:40:52.559 --> 00:40:57.599
<v Speaker 3>especially in Seattle, like using masks to see if crows

734
00:40:57.639 --> 00:41:00.000
<v Speaker 3>really can recognize individual faces and they can't.

735
00:41:00.320 --> 00:41:02.719
<v Speaker 2>Oh my god. So they might be like, Oh, I

736
00:41:02.760 --> 00:41:05.480
<v Speaker 2>know that guy. He comes out with with some leftover

737
00:41:05.559 --> 00:41:07.960
<v Speaker 2>Freedo's after lunch, and I'd be like I hate that guy.

738
00:41:08.000 --> 00:41:11.719
<v Speaker 2>He's always by my nest. Yep, totally, So don't fuck

739
00:41:11.800 --> 00:41:14.719
<v Speaker 2>with a crowd. No, no, don't do it. They know

740
00:41:14.840 --> 00:41:18.079
<v Speaker 2>you like that guy. Blake Hawkins wants to know is

741
00:41:18.119 --> 00:41:21.039
<v Speaker 2>there any hierarchy of intelligence of birds? Is there one

742
00:41:21.039 --> 00:41:24.360
<v Speaker 2>species that extremely intelligent and others that are maybe not

743
00:41:24.440 --> 00:41:24.840
<v Speaker 2>so much.

744
00:41:25.440 --> 00:41:29.639
<v Speaker 3>Yes, that's definitely true. So the corvids, which are the

745
00:41:29.719 --> 00:41:33.400
<v Speaker 3>crow's ravens and J's magpies, those are among the smartest.

746
00:41:33.400 --> 00:41:39.119
<v Speaker 3>They're probably the smartest songbirds pass erings, and then parrots

747
00:41:39.199 --> 00:41:42.800
<v Speaker 3>are incredibly smart. Birds like American coots.

748
00:41:44.519 --> 00:41:46.159
<v Speaker 2>Just the fact that it's called an American coot.

749
00:41:46.199 --> 00:41:48.519
<v Speaker 3>It's a coot, I know. So if you ever look

750
00:41:48.559 --> 00:41:52.159
<v Speaker 3>at a coot, and they're very common and most people

751
00:41:52.199 --> 00:41:54.639
<v Speaker 3>just don't pay any attention to him. They have a

752
00:41:54.800 --> 00:41:58.920
<v Speaker 3>huge body and a tiny h they're just they're cute,

753
00:41:59.480 --> 00:42:00.679
<v Speaker 3>but they're really stupid.

754
00:42:00.880 --> 00:42:03.719
<v Speaker 2>They sound like you're drunk uncle at the holidays who

755
00:42:03.719 --> 00:42:06.599
<v Speaker 2>makes sexist remarks that everyone ignores American coot?

756
00:42:06.719 --> 00:42:07.239
<v Speaker 3>Pretty much?

757
00:42:10.400 --> 00:42:13.400
<v Speaker 2>Okay. This next question is from the Facebook group Can

758
00:42:13.480 --> 00:42:15.920
<v Speaker 2>owls really turn their heads one hundred and eighty degrees?

759
00:42:16.239 --> 00:42:16.599
<v Speaker 3>Yes?

760
00:42:16.760 --> 00:42:17.039
<v Speaker 2>Okay?

761
00:42:17.559 --> 00:42:24.320
<v Speaker 3>Why they have really flexible necks. Okay, yeah, but they're

762
00:42:24.360 --> 00:42:31.800
<v Speaker 3>also really adapted at so owls have ears at different

763
00:42:31.920 --> 00:42:33.440
<v Speaker 3>heights on their head.

764
00:42:33.800 --> 00:42:35.599
<v Speaker 2>Oh one's over here, one's over there.

765
00:42:35.679 --> 00:42:38.679
<v Speaker 3>Yeah, so one's higher than the other. And that way

766
00:42:38.719 --> 00:42:42.639
<v Speaker 3>they can like more, they can better get sound. They

767
00:42:42.639 --> 00:42:46.000
<v Speaker 3>can like triangulate sound so that if they hear like

768
00:42:46.039 --> 00:42:48.159
<v Speaker 3>a little mouse that's running behind them, they turn their

769
00:42:48.199 --> 00:42:50.599
<v Speaker 3>head all the way around. Then they can hear exactly

770
00:42:50.599 --> 00:42:52.039
<v Speaker 3>where the mouse is and go get it.

771
00:42:52.760 --> 00:42:55.320
<v Speaker 2>They don't look wonky, No, they don't. You know, they

772
00:42:55.320 --> 00:42:57.800
<v Speaker 2>don't look like like sloth from Goonies or anything.

773
00:42:57.840 --> 00:42:59.960
<v Speaker 3>Right, if you open but if you have a dead one.

774
00:43:01.400 --> 00:43:03.280
<v Speaker 3>We had one that just got hit by a car

775
00:43:03.400 --> 00:43:05.880
<v Speaker 3>not too long ago, well a couple of years ago.

776
00:43:05.880 --> 00:43:08.320
<v Speaker 3>But and if you open it up, yeah, you could

777
00:43:08.360 --> 00:43:12.719
<v Speaker 3>see the flaps on either side are completely different heights. Yeah,

778
00:43:12.760 --> 00:43:13.199
<v Speaker 3>it's neat.

779
00:43:13.400 --> 00:43:18.679
<v Speaker 2>Oh, I had no idea. What's the most absurd bird? Ever?

780
00:43:22.639 --> 00:43:26.159
<v Speaker 3>I think the most absurd bird and also a little

781
00:43:26.159 --> 00:43:31.079
<v Speaker 3>bit scary, is called a horned screamer. It's a great

782
00:43:31.199 --> 00:43:37.840
<v Speaker 3>name and I would recommend everybody to look it up.

783
00:43:38.079 --> 00:43:41.400
<v Speaker 3>There's some great YouTube videos of horn screamers screaming a.

784
00:43:41.440 --> 00:43:43.880
<v Speaker 2>Horn screamer sounds like the worst guy to frat party.

785
00:43:44.000 --> 00:43:47.559
<v Speaker 3>Yeah, seriously, you would not want to go dressed up

786
00:43:47.559 --> 00:43:50.920
<v Speaker 3>as a horn screamer to a Halloween party. But they

787
00:43:50.960 --> 00:43:54.920
<v Speaker 3>have a giant, bony feather coming out of their head,

788
00:43:55.599 --> 00:43:58.440
<v Speaker 3>so they're sort of like a unicorn in that respect.

789
00:43:58.480 --> 00:44:02.639
<v Speaker 3>But they're related to geese sort of. But they have

790
00:44:02.679 --> 00:44:05.079
<v Speaker 3>a bill like a vulture, and their feet aren't webbed.

791
00:44:05.199 --> 00:44:08.679
<v Speaker 3>Oh no, and they scream you can hear them for

792
00:44:08.719 --> 00:44:09.320
<v Speaker 3>over a mile.

793
00:44:10.199 --> 00:44:10.960
<v Speaker 2>Oh my god.

794
00:44:11.320 --> 00:44:15.519
<v Speaker 3>And they're super territorial, so they have these huge wingspurs

795
00:44:15.679 --> 00:44:17.800
<v Speaker 3>on their wings that they like try to kill each

796
00:44:17.840 --> 00:44:18.199
<v Speaker 3>other with.

797
00:44:19.760 --> 00:44:21.840
<v Speaker 2>Okay, hell, yes, I look this up. Are you kidding me?

798
00:44:22.199 --> 00:44:28.679
<v Speaker 2>So the visual of this is like two angry, hairy

799
00:44:28.840 --> 00:44:33.239
<v Speaker 2>toddlers screaming at each other, honking like ping pong back

800
00:44:33.280 --> 00:44:37.360
<v Speaker 2>and forth, but each with a single bouncing like a

801
00:44:37.480 --> 00:44:41.119
<v Speaker 2>needle like spike emerging from the top of their heads.

802
00:44:41.280 --> 00:44:45.360
<v Speaker 2>So whatever you're picturing in your mind, trust me, the

803
00:44:45.400 --> 00:44:49.719
<v Speaker 2>reality is weirder. You must get up in this. I'm

804
00:44:49.760 --> 00:44:53.000
<v Speaker 2>gonna get a big horned screamer tattoo right across my

805
00:44:53.079 --> 00:44:57.719
<v Speaker 2>back and shoulders. Lily Masa wants to know why do

806
00:44:57.760 --> 00:45:00.559
<v Speaker 2>we call people chickens when chickens are actually mean and

807
00:45:00.639 --> 00:45:01.760
<v Speaker 2>cocky as fuck.

808
00:45:03.800 --> 00:45:06.760
<v Speaker 3>That's a good question. I don't know. Chickens are kind

809
00:45:06.760 --> 00:45:09.840
<v Speaker 3>of scared generally. I mean, they're a little flighty.

810
00:45:10.079 --> 00:45:12.039
<v Speaker 2>Maybe that's why they're so mean. It's because they're scared.

811
00:45:12.440 --> 00:45:16.239
<v Speaker 3>Well, I would say roosters are mean hens not so much.

812
00:45:16.360 --> 00:45:20.119
<v Speaker 2>Okay, yeah, I'll look into that, all right. I looked

813
00:45:20.119 --> 00:45:24.519
<v Speaker 2>into chicken etymology and I didn't come up with much,

814
00:45:24.679 --> 00:45:28.679
<v Speaker 2>but I did find so many entries on English as

815
00:45:28.679 --> 00:45:32.119
<v Speaker 2>a second language forums asking if I mid quote one directly,

816
00:45:32.800 --> 00:45:36.079
<v Speaker 2>I would like to know that what is meaning don't

817
00:45:36.079 --> 00:45:40.360
<v Speaker 2>be chicken? And how can use it? It's a good question. Now,

818
00:45:40.519 --> 00:45:43.719
<v Speaker 2>to be fair, I'm not a French as a first

819
00:45:43.760 --> 00:45:47.320
<v Speaker 2>language speaker, and I have always wondered why if someone

820
00:45:47.360 --> 00:45:49.760
<v Speaker 2>is mad at you in France they call you a duck,

821
00:45:50.119 --> 00:45:53.880
<v Speaker 2>because canard in French is duck, and my mom always

822
00:45:53.920 --> 00:45:55.440
<v Speaker 2>told me if someone calls you a duck in French,

823
00:45:55.519 --> 00:45:58.679
<v Speaker 2>you're really you're in some hot water. Now I just

824
00:45:58.719 --> 00:46:02.360
<v Speaker 2>found out looking at this non French speakers often mishear that,

825
00:46:02.440 --> 00:46:05.280
<v Speaker 2>and what they're really being called is a conard, which

826
00:46:05.360 --> 00:46:07.880
<v Speaker 2>in English does not mean duc it is more. It's

827
00:46:07.920 --> 00:46:13.920
<v Speaker 2>more into a kloka is what that means. I think

828
00:46:13.920 --> 00:46:17.199
<v Speaker 2>we should start calling people kloe because oh this is

829
00:46:17.239 --> 00:46:20.920
<v Speaker 2>so sad. Sill Ryan wants to know. There are some

830
00:46:20.960 --> 00:46:23.280
<v Speaker 2>birds the partner for life, say one of them dies,

831
00:46:23.519 --> 00:46:26.679
<v Speaker 2>does a surviving bird repartner, and is there like a

832
00:46:26.760 --> 00:46:28.199
<v Speaker 2>tinder for birds.

833
00:46:28.599 --> 00:46:33.599
<v Speaker 3>The surviving partner does re it finds a new mate. Okay, Yeah,

834
00:46:33.639 --> 00:46:39.880
<v Speaker 3>so they're you know, it's all driven by the desire

835
00:46:39.920 --> 00:46:42.679
<v Speaker 3>to reproduce, and so you're not gonna have a bird

836
00:46:42.719 --> 00:46:45.719
<v Speaker 3>that suddenly turns that off even though it's mate died.

837
00:46:46.559 --> 00:46:51.559
<v Speaker 3>And a lot of birds, ah seem like they made

838
00:46:51.559 --> 00:46:54.440
<v Speaker 3>for life, but they don't. They actually really switch partners

839
00:46:54.480 --> 00:46:54.880
<v Speaker 3>every year.

840
00:46:55.480 --> 00:46:58.039
<v Speaker 2>Yeah, so we've been led wrong. Like I've heard that

841
00:46:58.440 --> 00:47:01.079
<v Speaker 2>penguins are maybe not monogamous.

842
00:47:01.639 --> 00:47:05.880
<v Speaker 3>Yeah, so most monogamous birds are not fully monogamous. They're

843
00:47:05.920 --> 00:47:10.199
<v Speaker 3>most most of them are promiscuous, so they're socially monogamous,

844
00:47:10.239 --> 00:47:15.119
<v Speaker 3>but they're promiscuous. There's some birds that do this to incredibly,

845
00:47:15.239 --> 00:47:17.960
<v Speaker 3>to an absolute extreme. There's some fairy wrens in Australia.

846
00:47:18.199 --> 00:47:18.559
<v Speaker 2>Huh.

847
00:47:18.880 --> 00:47:20.760
<v Speaker 3>I think they're called superb fairy wrens.

848
00:47:21.159 --> 00:47:23.199
<v Speaker 2>Side note the bird names are killing me.

849
00:47:24.599 --> 00:47:28.719
<v Speaker 3>It's so out of control that sometimes not a single

850
00:47:28.840 --> 00:47:31.920
<v Speaker 3>egg and a female's nest was laid by her or

851
00:47:32.079 --> 00:47:37.320
<v Speaker 3>was sired by her partner, so that every single egg

852
00:47:37.360 --> 00:47:40.840
<v Speaker 3>that's in her nest she copulated with another male.

853
00:47:41.239 --> 00:47:45.199
<v Speaker 2>Get a girl, and but it looks as though she

854
00:47:45.480 --> 00:47:48.480
<v Speaker 2>is partnering with and rearing them with one male.

855
00:47:48.719 --> 00:47:49.880
<v Speaker 3>Yeah.

856
00:47:49.920 --> 00:47:51.039
<v Speaker 2>Does the male know about this?

857
00:47:51.880 --> 00:47:54.519
<v Speaker 3>I mean he must because he's he's doing it too. Yeah,

858
00:47:54.519 --> 00:47:56.519
<v Speaker 3>he's doing it too with every other female in the area.

859
00:47:56.920 --> 00:48:00.800
<v Speaker 2>So it's kind of like a like a new age.

860
00:48:01.519 --> 00:48:04.599
<v Speaker 2>We're together, but we're not shackled to one another.

861
00:48:05.559 --> 00:48:06.039
<v Speaker 3>Exactly.

862
00:48:06.119 --> 00:48:10.280
<v Speaker 2>Do you think that people use birds and their monogamy

863
00:48:10.440 --> 00:48:13.039
<v Speaker 2>or lack of monogamy to justify their own behaviors?

864
00:48:13.400 --> 00:48:13.920
<v Speaker 3>Definitely?

865
00:48:14.079 --> 00:48:17.679
<v Speaker 2>Okay, Yeah. Heather Ennis wants to know why do I

866
00:48:17.719 --> 00:48:21.840
<v Speaker 2>always see pigeons with one clubbed, stumpy foot. I think

867
00:48:21.880 --> 00:48:25.159
<v Speaker 2>maybe that that isn't an accurate sample population.

868
00:48:26.239 --> 00:48:29.079
<v Speaker 3>Uh, it's for a couple of reasons.

869
00:48:30.079 --> 00:48:31.559
<v Speaker 2>I love that he has an answer for this.

870
00:48:32.400 --> 00:48:36.280
<v Speaker 3>So often they'll get something stuck on their foot.

871
00:48:36.320 --> 00:48:40.559
<v Speaker 2>Like spoiler alert, it was a tangly hairball, so.

872
00:48:40.519 --> 00:48:42.280
<v Speaker 3>We caught it and pulled the hairball off it. But

873
00:48:42.920 --> 00:48:45.320
<v Speaker 3>I think that's it. Their feet, They're all They're always

874
00:48:45.320 --> 00:48:47.880
<v Speaker 3>walking around on the ground, yeah, getting into things, and

875
00:48:47.920 --> 00:48:50.880
<v Speaker 3>so I think, yeah, they just get into something that

876
00:48:50.920 --> 00:48:52.840
<v Speaker 3>tangles on their foot and then they lose it.

877
00:48:53.000 --> 00:48:57.000
<v Speaker 2>Street birds many Samara wants to know our bird cage

878
00:48:57.039 --> 00:48:59.960
<v Speaker 2>is cruel and should we give them big averies or

879
00:49:00.159 --> 00:49:01.800
<v Speaker 2>just not have them as pets.

880
00:49:02.280 --> 00:49:05.039
<v Speaker 3>I think we should just not have them as pets. Yeah,

881
00:49:05.280 --> 00:49:08.039
<v Speaker 3>bird cages are are cruel. Birds meant to live and

882
00:49:08.519 --> 00:49:11.519
<v Speaker 3>fly around the world. It's like we saw something that

883
00:49:12.039 --> 00:49:15.679
<v Speaker 3>has evolved to fly and decided they shouldn't anymore. Keep

884
00:49:15.719 --> 00:49:17.360
<v Speaker 3>them in her house. It's just kind of rude.

885
00:49:17.880 --> 00:49:21.079
<v Speaker 2>I used to go on this walk, beautiful house, beautiful neighborhood,

886
00:49:21.079 --> 00:49:23.480
<v Speaker 2>and it had this one circular window up on the

887
00:49:23.480 --> 00:49:25.559
<v Speaker 2>top floor and there was a bird cage next to it,

888
00:49:25.760 --> 00:49:27.559
<v Speaker 2>and I for like a year or two I walked

889
00:49:27.599 --> 00:49:29.199
<v Speaker 2>past and I was always like, man, what's that bird?

890
00:49:29.239 --> 00:49:33.400
<v Speaker 2>Thinking that bird's like, come on man, like in a mansion, granted,

891
00:49:33.440 --> 00:49:36.400
<v Speaker 2>but in a cage behind the circular like porthole window.

892
00:49:36.440 --> 00:49:38.320
<v Speaker 2>And I was like, man. Then one day I walked

893
00:49:38.320 --> 00:49:41.679
<v Speaker 2>by and there was a the window was open and

894
00:49:41.760 --> 00:49:43.800
<v Speaker 2>there was a note taped to the gate that said

895
00:49:43.880 --> 00:49:46.199
<v Speaker 2>lost bird, like.

896
00:49:46.480 --> 00:49:48.280
<v Speaker 3>The bird made it. Yeah, finally like hell.

897
00:49:48.199 --> 00:49:51.239
<v Speaker 2>Yeah, man, that bird was like waiting for these wings

898
00:49:51.280 --> 00:49:53.800
<v Speaker 2>to grow back. I'm out of here. And I got

899
00:49:53.840 --> 00:49:56.079
<v Speaker 2>like kind of happy, and then I was like, dude,

900
00:49:56.079 --> 00:49:59.320
<v Speaker 2>you're never getting your bird back. Ginger Larsen wants to

901
00:49:59.320 --> 00:50:03.519
<v Speaker 2>know what can we learn from birds?

902
00:50:03.599 --> 00:50:07.440
<v Speaker 3>So much? I mean there's so many they can do,

903
00:50:07.519 --> 00:50:10.840
<v Speaker 3>so many incredible things that we're not even close to

904
00:50:10.880 --> 00:50:11.519
<v Speaker 3>being able to.

905
00:50:11.480 --> 00:50:14.360
<v Speaker 2>Do, Like fly, for example, with their arms.

906
00:50:14.559 --> 00:50:19.559
<v Speaker 3>Yeah, like fly, and they can migrate these incredible distances.

907
00:50:19.599 --> 00:50:22.440
<v Speaker 3>They can navigate using the stars. I mean, there's so

908
00:50:22.480 --> 00:50:24.599
<v Speaker 3>many things that they have learned how to do and

909
00:50:24.639 --> 00:50:26.639
<v Speaker 3>a vault to be able to do that we can't.

910
00:50:27.159 --> 00:50:29.800
<v Speaker 3>And you know, we rely on these various systems to

911
00:50:29.800 --> 00:50:31.480
<v Speaker 3>be able to do what we can right.

912
00:50:31.519 --> 00:50:33.679
<v Speaker 2>Cough the internet and cell phones cough.

913
00:50:34.079 --> 00:50:35.920
<v Speaker 3>But they can fly away better than we can.

914
00:50:36.440 --> 00:50:39.360
<v Speaker 2>So yeah, so you can learn. We've already learned so

915
00:50:39.400 --> 00:50:41.519
<v Speaker 2>much about aviation from birds. I mean, hello, every time

916
00:50:41.519 --> 00:50:43.079
<v Speaker 2>you get an airplane, you're like, hi, it's a big

917
00:50:43.119 --> 00:50:45.880
<v Speaker 2>metal bird. Everything from the two wheels at the bottom

918
00:50:46.000 --> 00:50:48.440
<v Speaker 2>to like the wings we've just made a big bird.

919
00:50:48.880 --> 00:50:52.760
<v Speaker 2>Alison Throckmorton wants to know does rice make some bird's

920
00:50:52.760 --> 00:50:53.679
<v Speaker 2>stomachs explode?

921
00:50:53.840 --> 00:50:53.960
<v Speaker 3>No?

922
00:50:54.519 --> 00:50:55.920
<v Speaker 2>Oh, okay, that is a myth.

923
00:50:56.079 --> 00:50:57.800
<v Speaker 3>Oh it is a lot of birds eat rice.

924
00:50:58.679 --> 00:51:00.800
<v Speaker 2>Yeah, so if you're having a wedding, you can still

925
00:51:00.800 --> 00:51:01.719
<v Speaker 2>get pelted with rice.

926
00:51:01.880 --> 00:51:02.199
<v Speaker 3>Yes?

927
00:51:02.360 --> 00:51:04.199
<v Speaker 2>Oh who started that?

928
00:51:04.360 --> 00:51:07.039
<v Speaker 3>I don't know. I mean we can eat dried rice

929
00:51:07.039 --> 00:51:08.719
<v Speaker 3>and it doesn't make our stomach explode.

930
00:51:08.760 --> 00:51:10.719
<v Speaker 2>They don't have like a crop or something where it

931
00:51:10.840 --> 00:51:11.840
<v Speaker 2>expands or.

932
00:51:12.719 --> 00:51:17.679
<v Speaker 3>I mean they birds can eat like bones, so they

933
00:51:17.760 --> 00:51:18.719
<v Speaker 3>can handle some rice.

934
00:51:18.920 --> 00:51:22.280
<v Speaker 2>Okay, that's good to know. This question was asked by

935
00:51:22.519 --> 00:51:29.800
<v Speaker 2>Darren Ficcirellirelli. Darren Ficarelli. Sorry, sorry, what is the worst bird?

936
00:51:29.960 --> 00:51:32.719
<v Speaker 2>And why is it? A Canada goose? I feel like

937
00:51:32.760 --> 00:51:34.159
<v Speaker 2>they came into this with an agenda.

938
00:51:34.320 --> 00:51:38.719
<v Speaker 3>They really did, and I completely understand. Canada geese are

939
00:51:38.760 --> 00:51:41.719
<v Speaker 3>just so mean. They're really really mean.

940
00:51:43.159 --> 00:51:44.559
<v Speaker 2>But Canadians are so nice.

941
00:51:44.639 --> 00:51:47.320
<v Speaker 3>Canadians are nice. It's not their fault that the geese

942
00:51:47.360 --> 00:51:51.199
<v Speaker 3>are something mean. The geese they're just really productive and

943
00:51:50.880 --> 00:51:55.519
<v Speaker 3>they have adapted to us by nesting in all these parks.

944
00:51:56.320 --> 00:51:59.639
<v Speaker 2>And are they just entitled?

945
00:52:00.119 --> 00:52:02.599
<v Speaker 3>Yeah, they have their park to themselves and they don't

946
00:52:02.599 --> 00:52:04.960
<v Speaker 3>want you messing with it, and they're gonna bite you

947
00:52:05.000 --> 00:52:07.039
<v Speaker 3>and hiss at you and chase you.

948
00:52:07.440 --> 00:52:10.480
<v Speaker 2>Two last questions, what is one thing about your job

949
00:52:10.519 --> 00:52:12.679
<v Speaker 2>that you don't like the worst part of your job?

950
00:52:13.320 --> 00:52:15.519
<v Speaker 2>And then we'll ask with your favorite part more than

951
00:52:15.599 --> 00:52:17.920
<v Speaker 2>your favorite moment on your job has been what's the

952
00:52:17.920 --> 00:52:20.159
<v Speaker 2>shittiest thing about being an orthologist? Is it getting pooped on?

953
00:52:20.559 --> 00:52:20.760
<v Speaker 1>No?

954
00:52:20.960 --> 00:52:23.199
<v Speaker 3>Okay, I don't mind that at all. Okay, I would

955
00:52:23.239 --> 00:52:29.079
<v Speaker 3>say the worst part is when I find and a

956
00:52:29.119 --> 00:52:33.079
<v Speaker 3>beetle infestation in the collection. Oh, there's nothing that makes

957
00:52:33.159 --> 00:52:36.320
<v Speaker 3>me feel worse than that. It's like when I go

958
00:52:36.360 --> 00:52:38.639
<v Speaker 3>out in the collection and I find damaged specimens kind

959
00:52:38.639 --> 00:52:40.760
<v Speaker 3>of regardless of how they're damaged, it just makes me

960
00:52:40.840 --> 00:52:43.760
<v Speaker 3>so mad and it just ruins like my week. I

961
00:52:43.800 --> 00:52:45.559
<v Speaker 3>get so angry. I like tell John, and.

962
00:52:46.000 --> 00:52:49.320
<v Speaker 2>John is another ornithologist and an evolutionary biologist that you

963
00:52:49.320 --> 00:52:51.840
<v Speaker 2>will meet in a few episodes. Very cool dude.

964
00:52:52.239 --> 00:52:55.239
<v Speaker 3>Then he gets angry and yeah, So it's that that

965
00:52:55.360 --> 00:52:57.360
<v Speaker 3>is by far the worst, And that's sort of like

966
00:52:57.400 --> 00:53:00.159
<v Speaker 3>a minor thing. It doesn't happen a lot, but it

967
00:53:00.199 --> 00:53:03.199
<v Speaker 3>really is. Like my job as a collections manager is

968
00:53:03.239 --> 00:53:07.400
<v Speaker 3>to like maintain the integrity of this collection, and like

969
00:53:08.360 --> 00:53:11.159
<v Speaker 3>that's the job. And when I find that that's not

970
00:53:11.280 --> 00:53:13.599
<v Speaker 3>taking place, it just makes me so angry. So then

971
00:53:13.639 --> 00:53:16.239
<v Speaker 3>I dump a bunch of mothballs in there and freeze

972
00:53:16.280 --> 00:53:18.000
<v Speaker 3>all the birds so they kill everything.

973
00:53:18.679 --> 00:53:21.400
<v Speaker 2>But you're just like her, it's like Hulk turn into Yeah.

974
00:53:21.400 --> 00:53:23.280
<v Speaker 3>I mean, I basically should just leave because I'm just

975
00:53:23.320 --> 00:53:25.039
<v Speaker 3>going to be such a grouch for the rest of

976
00:53:25.079 --> 00:53:25.400
<v Speaker 3>the day.

977
00:53:26.400 --> 00:53:28.960
<v Speaker 2>And then what about your favorite thing about what you do?

978
00:53:31.880 --> 00:53:34.519
<v Speaker 3>I think the favorite my favorite thing about what I

979
00:53:34.519 --> 00:53:39.079
<v Speaker 3>do is I get paid to study birds. I mean,

980
00:53:39.519 --> 00:53:41.880
<v Speaker 3>just to be able to do that and like get

981
00:53:41.880 --> 00:53:42.480
<v Speaker 3>paid to do it.

982
00:53:42.480 --> 00:53:45.880
<v Speaker 2>It's incredible, especially since some people are spending literally their

983
00:53:45.920 --> 00:53:49.039
<v Speaker 2>retirement chasing birds around the globe. And you're like, negative,

984
00:53:49.400 --> 00:53:50.440
<v Speaker 2>I'm getting the money.

985
00:53:51.639 --> 00:53:54.480
<v Speaker 3>Yeah, it's like I would do this. I do this

986
00:53:54.519 --> 00:53:56.920
<v Speaker 3>in my free time. I actually get to get paid

987
00:53:56.920 --> 00:53:57.559
<v Speaker 3>for it. It's great.

988
00:53:57.800 --> 00:53:58.800
<v Speaker 2>Don't tell your bosses that.

989
00:53:59.280 --> 00:54:01.559
<v Speaker 3>Well, they do it too, so it's okay.

990
00:54:02.559 --> 00:54:04.760
<v Speaker 2>So if you're like listening to this at the bus

991
00:54:04.760 --> 00:54:07.960
<v Speaker 2>stop and you see a bird, just say to it, hey, man,

992
00:54:08.320 --> 00:54:10.519
<v Speaker 2>I know more about your butt and your brain than

993
00:54:10.559 --> 00:54:14.079
<v Speaker 2>I ever thought I would and birds. They're pretty cool

994
00:54:14.719 --> 00:54:17.639
<v Speaker 2>little muffins. So to watch any of the links that

995
00:54:17.639 --> 00:54:20.119
<v Speaker 2>I mentioned, you can go to aliward dot com slash ologies,

996
00:54:20.400 --> 00:54:24.039
<v Speaker 2>where I kind of like flacidly post a blog a

997
00:54:24.119 --> 00:54:27.119
<v Speaker 2>lot of links up there. Hopefully it'll be up by

998
00:54:27.119 --> 00:54:28.760
<v Speaker 2>the time you're listening to this. I don't know, guys,

999
00:54:28.800 --> 00:54:31.599
<v Speaker 2>it's my birthday and I'm I'm recording this outro in

1000
00:54:31.679 --> 00:54:34.639
<v Speaker 2>my closet because the sound is good here. I just

1001
00:54:35.599 --> 00:54:39.000
<v Speaker 2>I want to get this episode up and so that

1002
00:54:39.119 --> 00:54:41.320
<v Speaker 2>sounds so pathetic, but I'm having a pretty good time.

1003
00:54:42.599 --> 00:54:44.760
<v Speaker 2>What was gonna say? Oh yeah. Also, you can see

1004
00:54:44.840 --> 00:54:48.480
<v Speaker 2>inside the More Lab of Zoology on Instagram. Their account

1005
00:54:48.519 --> 00:54:53.079
<v Speaker 2>is mlz birds and they sometimes give tours of a lab.

1006
00:54:53.079 --> 00:54:56.760
<v Speaker 2>They're doing one through Atlas Obscura November eleventh here in La.

1007
00:54:56.800 --> 00:55:01.119
<v Speaker 2>If there are still tickets left, get on it. If

1008
00:55:01.159 --> 00:55:05.079
<v Speaker 2>you ever want to submit questions for upcoming ologists patrons

1009
00:55:05.079 --> 00:55:08.079
<v Speaker 2>on Patreon get first Crack so you can support there.

1010
00:55:08.119 --> 00:55:11.039
<v Speaker 2>You can also join the Ologies podcast group on Facebook.

1011
00:55:11.320 --> 00:55:13.840
<v Speaker 2>It's a good group of people, So if you're a dick,

1012
00:55:13.960 --> 00:55:16.679
<v Speaker 2>don't don't join. But if you're but if you're not,

1013
00:55:16.840 --> 00:55:20.440
<v Speaker 2>then hop into it because it's a party. I'm Ali

1014
00:55:20.480 --> 00:55:25.199
<v Speaker 2>Ward or ologies pod on Twitter. I'm also on Instagram

1015
00:55:25.199 --> 00:55:29.159
<v Speaker 2>and ologies and Ali Ward, So stay tuned for next week.

1016
00:55:29.199 --> 00:55:31.400
<v Speaker 2>I'm not quite sure what episode it's going to be yet.

1017
00:55:31.519 --> 00:55:35.400
<v Speaker 2>I'll figure that out later, but it'll probably be full

1018
00:55:35.480 --> 00:55:39.159
<v Speaker 2>of stupid questions for smart people, because honestly, I kind

1019
00:55:39.159 --> 00:55:41.760
<v Speaker 2>of think that they secretly like it, and I don't

1020
00:55:41.760 --> 00:55:43.760
<v Speaker 2>want to know if that's not true. To be honest,

1021
00:55:44.119 --> 00:56:01.320
<v Speaker 2>all right, ologyites by pacodermatology, cryptozoology, lithology andology, meteorology, apology, seriology,

1022
00:56:01.400 --> 00:56:10.119
<v Speaker 2>and philidology. I guess this was before I started saying

1023
00:56:11.079 --> 00:56:16.480
<v Speaker 2>bye bye mhm