WEBVTT - Short Stuff: Brown-Headed Cowbird

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

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

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<v Speaker 1>which is why I realize now that I started this

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<v Speaker 1>off incorrectly. Short stuff.

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

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<v Speaker 2>California Department of Fish Wildlife, New Hampshire, Autobond and Autobond

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<v Speaker 2>for information about the ground headed brown ground brown headed cowbird.

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<v Speaker 1>Thanks to you me too, she brought this bird to

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<v Speaker 1>my attention.

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<v Speaker 3>Oh I forgot you me dot org.

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<v Speaker 1>So, Chuck, we're talking today about cowbirds, and really in

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<v Speaker 1>particular the brown headed cowbird. You ever heard of them before?

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<v Speaker 3>Had never heard of them?

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<v Speaker 1>I hadn't neither. But if you want to know about

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<v Speaker 1>a brown headed cowbird, the first thing you need to

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<v Speaker 1>know about it is that it's a brood parasite. What

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<v Speaker 1>does that mean, Chuck? What does that mean?

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<v Speaker 3>Well?

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<v Speaker 2>I had never heard of this trait and a bird either.

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<v Speaker 2>So a brood parasite is a bird that will be

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<v Speaker 2>like you know what, I don't want to build my

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<v Speaker 2>own nest and go through all that whole process of

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<v Speaker 2>raising these babies that I egg out of my body.

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<v Speaker 2>So I'm just going to go lay those eggs in

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

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<v Speaker 1>Yeah, you do it for me? How about that? Yeah,

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

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<v Speaker 1>why would you do that? You have to be a

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<v Speaker 1>jerk bird? And yeah, I think a lot of people

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<v Speaker 1>think of cowbirds as kind of jerk birds just for

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<v Speaker 1>doing that. But from their point of view, like this

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<v Speaker 1>is this is just an adaptation that made a lot

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<v Speaker 1>of sense to how they evolved originally. And they're from

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<v Speaker 1>North America and they were I think indigenous to the

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<v Speaker 1>Great Plains of North America. And the reason why is

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<v Speaker 1>because there's another animal that was indigenous to the Great

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<v Speaker 1>Plains of North America and they had a commensal.

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<v Speaker 3>Commensal Is it commensal?

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<v Speaker 1>I don't know. I don't think so. I feel like

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<v Speaker 1>there's a you in there anyway. Okay, they had the

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<v Speaker 1>kind of relationship where they benefited but didn't harm the

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<v Speaker 1>other animal. And I feel like it's high time we

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<v Speaker 1>tell everybody what the other animal was.

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

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<v Speaker 2>They would follow these bison across the planes. Sometimes they

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<v Speaker 2>were initially they were called bison birds or maybe buffalo birds,

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<v Speaker 2>even though that's wrong. And they would follow these guys

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<v Speaker 2>across the planes and they would feed on the insects

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<v Speaker 2>that the bison would kick up, and they would sometimes

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<v Speaker 2>ride along on their backs. And this is this led

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<v Speaker 2>to why they would not birth their own little eggs

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<v Speaker 2>in their own little nests and raise them, because they

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<v Speaker 2>went where the bison went, and they were always on

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<v Speaker 2>the move and bison can travel buddy. So if they're

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<v Speaker 2>moving ten twenty miles a day and they're catching a

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<v Speaker 2>ride on the bison's backer at the very least flying

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<v Speaker 2>around with the bison, they're not staying there long enough

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<v Speaker 2>to set up their own home.

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<v Speaker 1>Yeah, cowbird was rolling stone, that's.

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<v Speaker 3>Right, Well, bison bird at the time, I guess.

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<v Speaker 1>Oh, yeah, that's right. So yeah, it totally made sense that,

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<v Speaker 1>like they still need to reproduce, so they would just

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<v Speaker 1>find a nest somewhere along the bison route and leave

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<v Speaker 1>their egg and then fly back to the bison and

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<v Speaker 1>be like wait, wait, wait for me, everybody. And I

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

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<v Speaker 3>What do you think I totally agree.

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

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<v Speaker 1>as probably most people know, the American bison was overhunted

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<v Speaker 1>almost to extinction. We can seriously legitimately thank Ted Turner

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<v Speaker 1>for almost single handedly bringing the American bison back.

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<v Speaker 3>That's right.

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<v Speaker 1>And so while in between that period between over hunting

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<v Speaker 1>and Ted Turner, the bison bird was like, I don't

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<v Speaker 1>have my niche anymore. I need to figure out what's

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<v Speaker 1>going on here. I got to start looking elsewhere. And

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<v Speaker 1>they basically spread outside of their ecological niche in the

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<v Speaker 1>great planes to look for other things they could do

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<v Speaker 1>to replace their bison friends, which they must have just

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<v Speaker 1>been horrified by all the massacres they witnessed.

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<v Speaker 2>Yeah, I bet probably very sad times for the bison bird.

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<v Speaker 2>But eventually one of them would land on a cow

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<v Speaker 2>and say, hey, these guys aren't so bad to ride

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

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

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<v Speaker 2>twenty miles a day. So you might think, all right,

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

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<v Speaker 2>and so maybe they will change their behavior. Now that

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

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<v Speaker 2>They said, we love these cows, but we also kind

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<v Speaker 2>of like this adaptation because you know, who really wants

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<v Speaker 2>to parent they're young.

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<v Speaker 1>Yeah, right, exactly. We're not gonna we're not gonna change anything.

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<v Speaker 1>We're just gonna stop, you know, wasting so much effort

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

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<v Speaker 1>there's five species of cowbirds, at least the parasitic versions

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<v Speaker 1>and the brown headed cowbird. The reason we're talking about

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<v Speaker 1>the brown head is because it is by far the

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<v Speaker 1>least picky about what nest it lays its eggs in. Yeah,

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

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

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<v Speaker 1>not as tiny as like say a robin's egg. They're

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<v Speaker 1>middling sized eggs. Brown headed cowbirds will lay their eggs

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

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<v Speaker 1>like five times smaller than the other eggs around it. Obviously,

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<v Speaker 1>the ducks are like, what is this crud? And there

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<v Speaker 1>are other bird species too that are kind of onto them.

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<v Speaker 1>But a lot of times the birds will just you know,

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<v Speaker 1>play along or else just be fooled.

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<v Speaker 2>Yeah, I think the finch is notorious for not liking

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<v Speaker 2>these eggs in their nest. They're not good host of

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<v Speaker 2>these these intruding eggs. So apparently they will uh you know,

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<v Speaker 2>they will, they will die if they are left in

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<v Speaker 2>charge of a finch. Other birds will will get mad

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<v Speaker 2>and puncture holes in the eggs or just you know,

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<v Speaker 2>beak them out of their nests. I think the catbirds

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<v Speaker 2>do that. And then the yellow warbler has a strategy

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<v Speaker 2>where they build nest. They'll just nest a new nest

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<v Speaker 2>on top of those poor little eggs, sometimes several new nests,

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<v Speaker 2>like up to five new nests on top to really

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<v Speaker 2>bury those guys.

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<v Speaker 1>I know, there's some like Tom and Jerry like like

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<v Speaker 1>scene that is making that makes me think of yeah,

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<v Speaker 1>but like it happens like really really fast.

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<v Speaker 3>Right right.

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<v Speaker 1>So, if however, the cowbird happens to lay their egg

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<v Speaker 1>in a nest that the bird is like just too

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<v Speaker 1>lazy to do anything about, that cowbird is probably going

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<v Speaker 1>to be the only hatchling that survives because it has

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<v Speaker 1>adaptations to outcompete other birds in the nests that it's

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<v Speaker 1>laid in.

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<v Speaker 3>Yeah.

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<v Speaker 2>One of them is they have a shorter incubation period,

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<v Speaker 2>so they're born first, I think sometimes up to three

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<v Speaker 2>or four days before the other eggs might hatch, and

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<v Speaker 2>so they got a little bit of a head start

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<v Speaker 2>where they might take care of those extra eggs themselves.

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<v Speaker 2>These baby birds might nudge those things out. So earlier

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<v Speaker 2>you were saying there are some bird enthusiasts that kind

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<v Speaker 2>of think these are jerk birds, and in my mind

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<v Speaker 2>I was like, yeah, but you know, like these birds

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<v Speaker 2>are doing their thing, like you can't get mad at

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<v Speaker 2>nature for being nature. But then you get to this

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<v Speaker 2>part and you're kind of like, ah, man, that really

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<v Speaker 2>kinda sucks.

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

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<v Speaker 1>guys stay, and the cowbird doesn't push the other hatchlings out,

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<v Speaker 1>just from being a couple days older, they'll be able

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<v Speaker 1>to muscle the other birds out of the way to

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<v Speaker 1>get the food, and they'll just continue to outpace them

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<v Speaker 1>and their growth, and it might be so bad that

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<v Speaker 1>the other hatchlings starved because the cowbird doesn't let them

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<v Speaker 1>get any of the food from the mother.

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<v Speaker 2>Yeah, so I get it now, bird enthusiasts, I have

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<v Speaker 2>a question for you, though, Joshua, which is, with all

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<v Speaker 2>this going on, not being raised by their parents, how

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<v Speaker 2>in the world does the cowbird not start to take

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<v Speaker 2>on traits of the bird that raise them.

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<v Speaker 3>How do they remain cowbirds?

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

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<v Speaker 1>As a matter of fact, there seems to be some

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<v Speaker 1>sort of mechanism that prevents cowbirds from imprinting onto their

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<v Speaker 1>adopted or foster parent from the other specie. They're not

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<v Speaker 1>exactly sure how this happens, but they think that cowbirds

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<v Speaker 1>hatchlings are attuned to the sound of adult cowbirds in

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

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<v Speaker 1>they learn to fly, they'll go seek out other cowbirds,

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<v Speaker 1>and I guess there they learn all of the cowbird habits,

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<v Speaker 1>like playing craps and smoking cigarettes and all that stuff. Yea.

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<v Speaker 1>And then also there's they do some weird nighttime excursions

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<v Speaker 1>out of the nest while they're being raised, and I

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<v Speaker 1>guess no one knows where they go, but that's something

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<v Speaker 1>that they're like that probably has something to go learn

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<v Speaker 1>actual cowbird behavior too.

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<v Speaker 2>Yeah, I wonder if when they are attuned to the

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<v Speaker 2>sound of their own if they eventually fly out when

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<v Speaker 2>they're big enough to find them, if they're like mama,

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

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<v Speaker 1>Right exactly, even if it was their mom, they wouldn't

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<v Speaker 1>take credit because it's a brown headed cowbird.

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<v Speaker 3>Yeah, that's right.

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<v Speaker 1>So if you want to find one of these, you

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<v Speaker 1>might see them in your feet or they are adapted

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<v Speaker 1>to all over North America, rural, suburban, urban, you can

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<v Speaker 1>f find them everywhere. They're a smallish, a medium size,

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<v Speaker 1>smallish bird, whatever that means. But the males have a

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<v Speaker 1>brown head that shines and shimmers almost like a deep

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<v Speaker 1>red in the sunlight, and they also have iridescent greenish

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

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<v Speaker 1>to really notice that much. They're much less showy, but

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<v Speaker 1>that's pretty standard for birds anyway.

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<v Speaker 3>For sure.

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<v Speaker 2>I think short stuff is about out, but since we

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<v Speaker 2>have an extra thirty seconds, I'm going to take this

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<v Speaker 2>opportunity to promote the new Nature series from the BBC,

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<v Speaker 2>the latest in their ongoing work with the Great David Attenborough.

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<v Speaker 3>Sir David Attenborough Asia.

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<v Speaker 1>Oh nice, and it.

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<v Speaker 2>Is fantastic stuff as always, exactly what you would expect

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<v Speaker 2>out of the BBC Nature Series. And Sir Attenborough is

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<v Speaker 2>ninety nine years old, he's going to be one hundred

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<v Speaker 2>and May and he's still doing it and it's just

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<v Speaker 2>some really amazing, striking stuff.

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<v Speaker 1>Did they spell it like Steely Dan?

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<v Speaker 3>Spell what like Steely Dan?

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<v Speaker 2>Oh?

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<v Speaker 1>No?

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<v Speaker 3>No, no, no no, they spelled it Asia.

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<v Speaker 1>Okay, gotcha?

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<v Speaker 3>Not a ja.

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<v Speaker 1>Well there you go. You're welcome. BBC. Chuck just hooked

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<v Speaker 1>you guys up with some viewers. I'm going to go

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<v Speaker 1>check that out myself.

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<v Speaker 3>It's great, you guys would love it.

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<v Speaker 1>Cool. Well then, I think now, Chuck short Stuff is out.

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<v Speaker 3>Stuff you Should Know is a production of iHeartRadio. For

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