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Speaker 1: Hey, and welcome to the podcast. I'm Josh, and there's

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Speaker 1: Chuck and Jerry's here too. And this is a short stuff,

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Speaker 1: which is why I realize now that I started this

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Speaker 1: off incorrectly. Short stuff.

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Speaker 2: Let's go, that's right, big Thanks to Britannica Yellowstone Wild Tours,

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Speaker 2: California Department of Fish Wildlife, New Hampshire, Autobond and Autobond

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Speaker 2: for information about the ground headed brown ground brown headed cowbird.

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Speaker 1: Thanks to you me too, she brought this bird to

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Speaker 1: my attention.

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Speaker 3: Oh I forgot you me dot org.

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Speaker 1: So, Chuck, we're talking today about cowbirds, and really in

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Speaker 1: particular the brown headed cowbird. You ever heard of them before?

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Speaker 3: Had never heard of them?

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Speaker 1: I hadn't neither. But if you want to know about

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Speaker 1: a brown headed cowbird, the first thing you need to

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Speaker 1: know about it is that it's a brood parasite. What

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Speaker 1: does that mean, Chuck? What does that mean?

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Speaker 3: Well?

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Speaker 2: I had never heard of this trait and a bird either.

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Speaker 2: So a brood parasite is a bird that will be

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Speaker 2: like you know what, I don't want to build my

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Speaker 2: own nest and go through all that whole process of

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Speaker 2: raising these babies that I egg out of my body.

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Speaker 2: So I'm just going to go lay those eggs in

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Speaker 2: some other bird's nest and then go away in shirk parenthood.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, you do it for me? How about that? Yeah,

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Speaker 1: that's exactly what they do. And it you know, you're like,

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Speaker 1: why would you do that? You have to be a

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Speaker 1: jerk bird? And yeah, I think a lot of people

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Speaker 1: think of cowbirds as kind of jerk birds just for

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Speaker 1: doing that. But from their point of view, like this

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Speaker 1: is this is just an adaptation that made a lot

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Speaker 1: of sense to how they evolved originally. And they're from

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Speaker 1: North America and they were I think indigenous to the

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Speaker 1: Great Plains of North America. And the reason why is

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Speaker 1: because there's another animal that was indigenous to the Great

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Speaker 1: Plains of North America and they had a commensal.

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Speaker 3: Commensal Is it commensal?

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Speaker 1: I don't know. I don't think so. I feel like

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Speaker 1: there's a you in there anyway. Okay, they had the

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Speaker 1: kind of relationship where they benefited but didn't harm the

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Speaker 1: other animal. And I feel like it's high time we

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Speaker 1: tell everybody what the other animal was.

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Speaker 2: Chuck, that's right, drum roll everybody, It is the bison.

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Speaker 2: They would follow these bison across the planes. Sometimes they

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Speaker 2: were initially they were called bison birds or maybe buffalo birds,

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Speaker 2: even though that's wrong. And they would follow these guys

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Speaker 2: across the planes and they would feed on the insects

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Speaker 2: that the bison would kick up, and they would sometimes

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Speaker 2: ride along on their backs. And this is this led

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Speaker 2: to why they would not birth their own little eggs

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Speaker 2: in their own little nests and raise them, because they

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Speaker 2: went where the bison went, and they were always on

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Speaker 2: the move and bison can travel buddy. So if they're

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Speaker 2: moving ten twenty miles a day and they're catching a

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Speaker 2: ride on the bison's backer at the very least flying

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Speaker 2: around with the bison, they're not staying there long enough

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Speaker 2: to set up their own home.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, cowbird was rolling stone, that's.

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Speaker 3: Right, Well, bison bird at the time, I guess.

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Speaker 1: Oh, yeah, that's right. So yeah, it totally made sense that,

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Speaker 1: like they still need to reproduce, so they would just

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Speaker 1: find a nest somewhere along the bison route and leave

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Speaker 1: their egg and then fly back to the bison and

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Speaker 1: be like wait, wait, wait for me, everybody. And I

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Speaker 1: feel like that's a pretty good place to take our break.

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Speaker 3: What do you think I totally agree.

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Speaker 1: Okay, all right, we're taking our break, everybody, so chuck Sadly,

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Speaker 1: as probably most people know, the American bison was overhunted

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Speaker 1: almost to extinction. We can seriously legitimately thank Ted Turner

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Speaker 1: for almost single handedly bringing the American bison back.

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Speaker 3: That's right.

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Speaker 1: And so while in between that period between over hunting

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Speaker 1: and Ted Turner, the bison bird was like, I don't

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Speaker 1: have my niche anymore. I need to figure out what's

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Speaker 1: going on here. I got to start looking elsewhere. And

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Speaker 1: they basically spread outside of their ecological niche in the

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Speaker 1: great planes to look for other things they could do

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Speaker 1: to replace their bison friends, which they must have just

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Speaker 1: been horrified by all the massacres they witnessed.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, I bet probably very sad times for the bison bird.

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Speaker 2: But eventually one of them would land on a cow

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Speaker 2: and say, hey, these guys aren't so bad to ride

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Speaker 2: around on. But here's the thing is, cows don't move

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Speaker 2: around like the bison didn't. They're not traveling, you know,

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Speaker 2: twenty miles a day. So you might think, all right,

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Speaker 2: they're leading a more sedentary life. These birds are now cowbirds,

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Speaker 2: and so maybe they will change their behavior. Now that

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Speaker 2: they're not they don't need to do this, but they didn't.

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Speaker 2: They said, we love these cows, but we also kind

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Speaker 2: of like this adaptation because you know, who really wants

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Speaker 2: to parent they're young.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, right, exactly. We're not gonna we're not gonna change anything.

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Speaker 1: We're just gonna stop, you know, wasting so much effort

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Speaker 1: flying around all the time. I think there's I don't remember. Oh,

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Speaker 1: there's five species of cowbirds, at least the parasitic versions

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Speaker 1: and the brown headed cowbird. The reason we're talking about

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Speaker 1: the brown head is because it is by far the

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Speaker 1: least picky about what nest it lays its eggs in. Yeah,

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Speaker 1: so these are you know, they're not large eggs. They're

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Speaker 1: much smaller than like a chicken's egg, but they're probably

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Speaker 1: not as tiny as like say a robin's egg. They're

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Speaker 1: middling sized eggs. Brown headed cowbirds will lay their eggs

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Speaker 1: in like a duck's nest. Yes, this little egg is

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Speaker 1: like five times smaller than the other eggs around it. Obviously,

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Speaker 1: the ducks are like, what is this crud? And there

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Speaker 1: are other bird species too that are kind of onto them.

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Speaker 1: But a lot of times the birds will just you know,

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Speaker 1: play along or else just be fooled.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, I think the finch is notorious for not liking

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Speaker 2: these eggs in their nest. They're not good host of

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Speaker 2: these these intruding eggs. So apparently they will uh you know,

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Speaker 2: they will, they will die if they are left in

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Speaker 2: charge of a finch. Other birds will will get mad

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Speaker 2: and puncture holes in the eggs or just you know,

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Speaker 2: beak them out of their nests. I think the catbirds

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Speaker 2: do that. And then the yellow warbler has a strategy

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Speaker 2: where they build nest. They'll just nest a new nest

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Speaker 2: on top of those poor little eggs, sometimes several new nests,

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Speaker 2: like up to five new nests on top to really

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Speaker 2: bury those guys.

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Speaker 1: I know, there's some like Tom and Jerry like like

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Speaker 1: scene that is making that makes me think of yeah,

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Speaker 1: but like it happens like really really fast.

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Speaker 3: Right right.

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Speaker 1: So, if however, the cowbird happens to lay their egg

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Speaker 1: in a nest that the bird is like just too

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Speaker 1: lazy to do anything about, that cowbird is probably going

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Speaker 1: to be the only hatchling that survives because it has

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Speaker 1: adaptations to outcompete other birds in the nests that it's

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Speaker 1: laid in.

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Speaker 3: Yeah.

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Speaker 2: One of them is they have a shorter incubation period,

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Speaker 2: so they're born first, I think sometimes up to three

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Speaker 2: or four days before the other eggs might hatch, and

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Speaker 2: so they got a little bit of a head start

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Speaker 2: where they might take care of those extra eggs themselves.

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Speaker 2: These baby birds might nudge those things out. So earlier

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Speaker 2: you were saying there are some bird enthusiasts that kind

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Speaker 2: of think these are jerk birds, and in my mind

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Speaker 2: I was like, yeah, but you know, like these birds

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Speaker 2: are doing their thing, like you can't get mad at

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Speaker 2: nature for being nature. But then you get to this

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Speaker 2: part and you're kind of like, ah, man, that really

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Speaker 2: kinda sucks.

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Speaker 1: Yeah. Yeah. So even if they're like, I'll let you

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Speaker 1: guys stay, and the cowbird doesn't push the other hatchlings out,

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Speaker 1: just from being a couple days older, they'll be able

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Speaker 1: to muscle the other birds out of the way to

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Speaker 1: get the food, and they'll just continue to outpace them

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Speaker 1: and their growth, and it might be so bad that

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Speaker 1: the other hatchlings starved because the cowbird doesn't let them

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Speaker 1: get any of the food from the mother.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, so I get it now, bird enthusiasts, I have

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Speaker 2: a question for you, though, Joshua, which is, with all

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Speaker 2: this going on, not being raised by their parents, how

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Speaker 2: in the world does the cowbird not start to take

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Speaker 2: on traits of the bird that raise them.

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Speaker 3: How do they remain cowbirds?

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Speaker 1: I'm glad you asked that we don't really know, Chuck.

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Speaker 1: As a matter of fact, there seems to be some

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Speaker 1: sort of mechanism that prevents cowbirds from imprinting onto their

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Speaker 1: adopted or foster parent from the other specie. They're not

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Speaker 1: exactly sure how this happens, but they think that cowbirds

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Speaker 1: hatchlings are attuned to the sound of adult cowbirds in

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Speaker 1: the area, and that they're naturally attracted to it. Once

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Speaker 1: they learn to fly, they'll go seek out other cowbirds,

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Speaker 1: and I guess there they learn all of the cowbird habits,

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Speaker 1: like playing craps and smoking cigarettes and all that stuff. Yea.

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Speaker 1: And then also there's they do some weird nighttime excursions

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Speaker 1: out of the nest while they're being raised, and I

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Speaker 1: guess no one knows where they go, but that's something

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Speaker 1: that they're like that probably has something to go learn

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Speaker 1: actual cowbird behavior too.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, I wonder if when they are attuned to the

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Speaker 2: sound of their own if they eventually fly out when

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Speaker 2: they're big enough to find them, if they're like mama,

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Speaker 2: and the birds are like, don't look at me, but.

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Speaker 1: Right exactly, even if it was their mom, they wouldn't

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Speaker 1: take credit because it's a brown headed cowbird.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, that's right.

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Speaker 1: So if you want to find one of these, you

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Speaker 1: might see them in your feet or they are adapted

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Speaker 1: to all over North America, rural, suburban, urban, you can

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Speaker 1: f find them everywhere. They're a smallish, a medium size,

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Speaker 1: smallish bird, whatever that means. But the males have a

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Speaker 1: brown head that shines and shimmers almost like a deep

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Speaker 1: red in the sunlight, and they also have iridescent greenish

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Speaker 1: blue plumage on their body. The females, you're not going

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Speaker 1: to really notice that much. They're much less showy, but

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Speaker 1: that's pretty standard for birds anyway.

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Speaker 3: For sure.

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Speaker 2: I think short stuff is about out, but since we

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Speaker 2: have an extra thirty seconds, I'm going to take this

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Speaker 2: opportunity to promote the new Nature series from the BBC,

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Speaker 2: the latest in their ongoing work with the Great David Attenborough.

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Speaker 3: Sir David Attenborough Asia.

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Speaker 1: Oh nice, and it.

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Speaker 2: Is fantastic stuff as always, exactly what you would expect

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Speaker 2: out of the BBC Nature Series. And Sir Attenborough is

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Speaker 2: ninety nine years old, he's going to be one hundred

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Speaker 2: and May and he's still doing it and it's just

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Speaker 2: some really amazing, striking stuff.

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Speaker 1: Did they spell it like Steely Dan?

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Speaker 3: Spell what like Steely Dan?

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Speaker 2: Oh?

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Speaker 1: No?

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Speaker 3: No, no, no no, they spelled it Asia.

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Speaker 1: Okay, gotcha?

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Speaker 3: Not a ja.

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Speaker 1: Well there you go. You're welcome. BBC. Chuck just hooked

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Speaker 1: you guys up with some viewers. I'm going to go

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Speaker 1: check that out myself.

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Speaker 3: It's great, you guys would love it.

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Speaker 1: Cool. Well then, I think now, Chuck short Stuff is out.

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Speaker 3: Stuff you Should Know is a production of iHeartRadio. For

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