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Short Stuff: Brown-Headed Cowbird · Stuff You Should Know

• 0:04
  Speaker 1: Hey, and welcome to the podcast. I'm Josh, and there's
• 0:06
  Speaker 1: Chuck and Jerry's here too. And this is a short stuff,
• 0:09
  Speaker 1: which is why I realize now that I started this
• 0:12
  Speaker 1: off incorrectly. Short stuff.
• 0:13
  Speaker 2: Let's go, that's right, big Thanks to Britannica Yellowstone Wild Tours,
• 0:17
  Speaker 2: California Department of Fish Wildlife, New Hampshire, Autobond and Autobond
• 0:22
  Speaker 2: for information about the ground headed brown ground brown headed cowbird.
• 0:26
  Speaker 1: Thanks to you me too, she brought this bird to
• 0:28
  Speaker 1: my attention.
• 0:29
  Speaker 3: Oh I forgot you me dot org.
• 0:33
  Speaker 1: So, Chuck, we're talking today about cowbirds, and really in
• 0:35
  Speaker 1: particular the brown headed cowbird. You ever heard of them before?
• 0:39
  Speaker 3: Had never heard of them?
• 0:40
  Speaker 1: I hadn't neither. But if you want to know about
• 0:43
  Speaker 1: a brown headed cowbird, the first thing you need to
• 0:45
  Speaker 1: know about it is that it's a brood parasite. What
• 0:50
  Speaker 1: does that mean, Chuck? What does that mean?
• 0:52
  Speaker 3: Well?
• 0:53
  Speaker 2: I had never heard of this trait and a bird either.
• 0:55
  Speaker 2: So a brood parasite is a bird that will be
• 0:59
  Speaker 2: like you know what, I don't want to build my
• 1:01
  Speaker 2: own nest and go through all that whole process of
• 1:04
  Speaker 2: raising these babies that I egg out of my body.
• 1:07
  Speaker 2: So I'm just going to go lay those eggs in
• 1:10
  Speaker 2: some other bird's nest and then go away in shirk parenthood.
• 1:13
  Speaker 1: Yeah, you do it for me? How about that? Yeah,
• 1:16
  Speaker 1: that's exactly what they do. And it you know, you're like,
• 1:20
  Speaker 1: why would you do that? You have to be a
• 1:21
  Speaker 1: jerk bird? And yeah, I think a lot of people
• 1:24
  Speaker 1: think of cowbirds as kind of jerk birds just for
• 1:26
  Speaker 1: doing that. But from their point of view, like this
• 1:28
  Speaker 1: is this is just an adaptation that made a lot
• 1:31
  Speaker 1: of sense to how they evolved originally. And they're from
• 1:37
  Speaker 1: North America and they were I think indigenous to the
• 1:41
  Speaker 1: Great Plains of North America. And the reason why is
• 1:44
  Speaker 1: because there's another animal that was indigenous to the Great
• 1:47
  Speaker 1: Plains of North America and they had a commensal.
• 1:50
  Speaker 3: Commensal Is it commensal?
• 1:54
  Speaker 1: I don't know. I don't think so. I feel like
• 1:56
  Speaker 1: there's a you in there anyway. Okay, they had the
• 1:58
  Speaker 1: kind of relationship where they benefited but didn't harm the
• 2:02
  Speaker 1: other animal. And I feel like it's high time we
• 2:05
  Speaker 1: tell everybody what the other animal was.
• 2:06
  Speaker 2: Chuck, that's right, drum roll everybody, It is the bison.
• 2:12
  Speaker 2: They would follow these bison across the planes. Sometimes they
• 2:15
  Speaker 2: were initially they were called bison birds or maybe buffalo birds,
• 2:19
  Speaker 2: even though that's wrong. And they would follow these guys
• 2:21
  Speaker 2: across the planes and they would feed on the insects
• 2:24
  Speaker 2: that the bison would kick up, and they would sometimes
• 2:27
  Speaker 2: ride along on their backs. And this is this led
• 2:31
  Speaker 2: to why they would not birth their own little eggs
• 2:36
  Speaker 2: in their own little nests and raise them, because they
• 2:39
  Speaker 2: went where the bison went, and they were always on
• 2:41
  Speaker 2: the move and bison can travel buddy. So if they're
• 2:44
  Speaker 2: moving ten twenty miles a day and they're catching a
• 2:46
  Speaker 2: ride on the bison's backer at the very least flying
• 2:48
  Speaker 2: around with the bison, they're not staying there long enough
• 2:51
  Speaker 2: to set up their own home.
• 2:52
  Speaker 1: Yeah, cowbird was rolling stone, that's.
• 2:56
  Speaker 3: Right, Well, bison bird at the time, I guess.
• 2:57
  Speaker 1: Oh, yeah, that's right. So yeah, it totally made sense that,
• 3:02
  Speaker 1: like they still need to reproduce, so they would just
• 3:06
  Speaker 1: find a nest somewhere along the bison route and leave
• 3:09
  Speaker 1: their egg and then fly back to the bison and
• 3:11
  Speaker 1: be like wait, wait, wait for me, everybody. And I
• 3:14
  Speaker 1: feel like that's a pretty good place to take our break.
• 3:17
  Speaker 3: What do you think I totally agree.
• 3:19
  Speaker 1: Okay, all right, we're taking our break, everybody, so chuck Sadly,
• 3:48
  Speaker 1: as probably most people know, the American bison was overhunted
• 3:53
  Speaker 1: almost to extinction. We can seriously legitimately thank Ted Turner
• 3:58
  Speaker 1: for almost single handedly bringing the American bison back.
• 4:01
  Speaker 3: That's right.
• 4:02
  Speaker 1: And so while in between that period between over hunting
• 4:07
  Speaker 1: and Ted Turner, the bison bird was like, I don't
• 4:10
  Speaker 1: have my niche anymore. I need to figure out what's
• 4:13
  Speaker 1: going on here. I got to start looking elsewhere. And
• 4:15
  Speaker 1: they basically spread outside of their ecological niche in the
• 4:20
  Speaker 1: great planes to look for other things they could do
• 4:23
  Speaker 1: to replace their bison friends, which they must have just
• 4:26
  Speaker 1: been horrified by all the massacres they witnessed.
• 4:30
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I bet probably very sad times for the bison bird.
• 4:34
  Speaker 2: But eventually one of them would land on a cow
• 4:37
  Speaker 2: and say, hey, these guys aren't so bad to ride
• 4:40
  Speaker 2: around on. But here's the thing is, cows don't move
• 4:43
  Speaker 2: around like the bison didn't. They're not traveling, you know,
• 4:46
  Speaker 2: twenty miles a day. So you might think, all right,
• 4:49
  Speaker 2: they're leading a more sedentary life. These birds are now cowbirds,
• 4:54
  Speaker 2: and so maybe they will change their behavior. Now that
• 4:57
  Speaker 2: they're not they don't need to do this, but they didn't.
• 5:01
  Speaker 2: They said, we love these cows, but we also kind
• 5:04
  Speaker 2: of like this adaptation because you know, who really wants
• 5:07
  Speaker 2: to parent they're young.
• 5:08
  Speaker 1: Yeah, right, exactly. We're not gonna we're not gonna change anything.
• 5:12
  Speaker 1: We're just gonna stop, you know, wasting so much effort
• 5:15
  Speaker 1: flying around all the time. I think there's I don't remember. Oh,
• 5:20
  Speaker 1: there's five species of cowbirds, at least the parasitic versions
• 5:24
  Speaker 1: and the brown headed cowbird. The reason we're talking about
• 5:26
  Speaker 1: the brown head is because it is by far the
• 5:29
  Speaker 1: least picky about what nest it lays its eggs in. Yeah,
• 5:34
  Speaker 1: so these are you know, they're not large eggs. They're
• 5:37
  Speaker 1: much smaller than like a chicken's egg, but they're probably
• 5:40
  Speaker 1: not as tiny as like say a robin's egg. They're
• 5:43
  Speaker 1: middling sized eggs. Brown headed cowbirds will lay their eggs
• 5:47
  Speaker 1: in like a duck's nest. Yes, this little egg is
• 5:51
  Speaker 1: like five times smaller than the other eggs around it. Obviously,
• 5:54
  Speaker 1: the ducks are like, what is this crud? And there
• 5:58
  Speaker 1: are other bird species too that are kind of onto them.
• 6:01
  Speaker 1: But a lot of times the birds will just you know,
• 6:04
  Speaker 1: play along or else just be fooled.
• 6:07
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I think the finch is notorious for not liking
• 6:10
  Speaker 2: these eggs in their nest. They're not good host of
• 6:13
  Speaker 2: these these intruding eggs. So apparently they will uh you know,
• 6:18
  Speaker 2: they will, they will die if they are left in
• 6:21
  Speaker 2: charge of a finch. Other birds will will get mad
• 6:25
  Speaker 2: and puncture holes in the eggs or just you know,
• 6:27
  Speaker 2: beak them out of their nests. I think the catbirds
• 6:30
  Speaker 2: do that. And then the yellow warbler has a strategy
• 6:34
  Speaker 2: where they build nest. They'll just nest a new nest
• 6:38
  Speaker 2: on top of those poor little eggs, sometimes several new nests,
• 6:42
  Speaker 2: like up to five new nests on top to really
• 6:44
  Speaker 2: bury those guys.
• 6:45
  Speaker 1: I know, there's some like Tom and Jerry like like
• 6:48
  Speaker 1: scene that is making that makes me think of yeah,
• 6:52
  Speaker 1: but like it happens like really really fast.
• 6:55
  Speaker 3: Right right.
• 6:55
  Speaker 1: So, if however, the cowbird happens to lay their egg
• 7:00
  Speaker 1: in a nest that the bird is like just too
• 7:03
  Speaker 1: lazy to do anything about, that cowbird is probably going
• 7:07
  Speaker 1: to be the only hatchling that survives because it has
• 7:12
  Speaker 1: adaptations to outcompete other birds in the nests that it's
• 7:17
  Speaker 1: laid in.
• 7:19
  Speaker 3: Yeah.
• 7:19
  Speaker 2: One of them is they have a shorter incubation period,
• 7:23
  Speaker 2: so they're born first, I think sometimes up to three
• 7:25
  Speaker 2: or four days before the other eggs might hatch, and
• 7:30
  Speaker 2: so they got a little bit of a head start
• 7:32
  Speaker 2: where they might take care of those extra eggs themselves.
• 7:35
  Speaker 2: These baby birds might nudge those things out. So earlier
• 7:39
  Speaker 2: you were saying there are some bird enthusiasts that kind
• 7:42
  Speaker 2: of think these are jerk birds, and in my mind
• 7:45
  Speaker 2: I was like, yeah, but you know, like these birds
• 7:47
  Speaker 2: are doing their thing, like you can't get mad at
• 7:49
  Speaker 2: nature for being nature. But then you get to this
• 7:51
  Speaker 2: part and you're kind of like, ah, man, that really
• 7:53
  Speaker 2: kinda sucks.
• 7:53
  Speaker 1: Yeah. Yeah. So even if they're like, I'll let you
• 7:56
  Speaker 1: guys stay, and the cowbird doesn't push the other hatchlings out,
• 8:01
  Speaker 1: just from being a couple days older, they'll be able
• 8:04
  Speaker 1: to muscle the other birds out of the way to
• 8:06
  Speaker 1: get the food, and they'll just continue to outpace them
• 8:09
  Speaker 1: and their growth, and it might be so bad that
• 8:12
  Speaker 1: the other hatchlings starved because the cowbird doesn't let them
• 8:15
  Speaker 1: get any of the food from the mother.
• 8:18
  Speaker 2: Yeah, so I get it now, bird enthusiasts, I have
• 8:22
  Speaker 2: a question for you, though, Joshua, which is, with all
• 8:27
  Speaker 2: this going on, not being raised by their parents, how
• 8:30
  Speaker 2: in the world does the cowbird not start to take
• 8:33
  Speaker 2: on traits of the bird that raise them.
• 8:35
  Speaker 3: How do they remain cowbirds?
• 8:37
  Speaker 1: I'm glad you asked that we don't really know, Chuck.
• 8:41
  Speaker 1: As a matter of fact, there seems to be some
• 8:43
  Speaker 1: sort of mechanism that prevents cowbirds from imprinting onto their
• 8:49
  Speaker 1: adopted or foster parent from the other specie. They're not
• 8:54
  Speaker 1: exactly sure how this happens, but they think that cowbirds
• 8:57
  Speaker 1: hatchlings are attuned to the sound of adult cowbirds in
• 9:02
  Speaker 1: the area, and that they're naturally attracted to it. Once
• 9:04
  Speaker 1: they learn to fly, they'll go seek out other cowbirds,
• 9:07
  Speaker 1: and I guess there they learn all of the cowbird habits,
• 9:12
  Speaker 1: like playing craps and smoking cigarettes and all that stuff. Yea.
• 9:16
  Speaker 1: And then also there's they do some weird nighttime excursions
• 9:21
  Speaker 1: out of the nest while they're being raised, and I
• 9:24
  Speaker 1: guess no one knows where they go, but that's something
• 9:27
  Speaker 1: that they're like that probably has something to go learn
• 9:30
  Speaker 1: actual cowbird behavior too.
• 9:33
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I wonder if when they are attuned to the
• 9:36
  Speaker 2: sound of their own if they eventually fly out when
• 9:39
  Speaker 2: they're big enough to find them, if they're like mama,
• 9:42
  Speaker 2: and the birds are like, don't look at me, but.
• 9:44
  Speaker 1: Right exactly, even if it was their mom, they wouldn't
• 9:47
  Speaker 1: take credit because it's a brown headed cowbird.
• 9:50
  Speaker 3: Yeah, that's right.
• 9:51
  Speaker 1: So if you want to find one of these, you
• 9:53
  Speaker 1: might see them in your feet or they are adapted
• 9:55
  Speaker 1: to all over North America, rural, suburban, urban, you can
• 9:59
  Speaker 1: f find them everywhere. They're a smallish, a medium size,
• 10:05
  Speaker 1: smallish bird, whatever that means. But the males have a
• 10:09
  Speaker 1: brown head that shines and shimmers almost like a deep
• 10:13
  Speaker 1: red in the sunlight, and they also have iridescent greenish
• 10:18
  Speaker 1: blue plumage on their body. The females, you're not going
• 10:21
  Speaker 1: to really notice that much. They're much less showy, but
• 10:25
  Speaker 1: that's pretty standard for birds anyway.
• 10:28
  Speaker 3: For sure.
• 10:29
  Speaker 2: I think short stuff is about out, but since we
• 10:32
  Speaker 2: have an extra thirty seconds, I'm going to take this
• 10:35
  Speaker 2: opportunity to promote the new Nature series from the BBC,
• 10:40
  Speaker 2: the latest in their ongoing work with the Great David Attenborough.
• 10:45
  Speaker 3: Sir David Attenborough Asia.
• 10:48
  Speaker 1: Oh nice, and it.
• 10:50
  Speaker 2: Is fantastic stuff as always, exactly what you would expect
• 10:55
  Speaker 2: out of the BBC Nature Series. And Sir Attenborough is
• 11:00
  Speaker 2: ninety nine years old, he's going to be one hundred
• 11:02
  Speaker 2: and May and he's still doing it and it's just
• 11:06
  Speaker 2: some really amazing, striking stuff.
• 11:09
  Speaker 1: Did they spell it like Steely Dan?
• 11:12
  Speaker 3: Spell what like Steely Dan?
• 11:14
  Speaker 2: Oh?
• 11:14
  Speaker 1: No?
• 11:14
  Speaker 3: No, no, no no, they spelled it Asia.
• 11:17
  Speaker 1: Okay, gotcha?
• 11:17
  Speaker 3: Not a ja.
• 11:19
  Speaker 1: Well there you go. You're welcome. BBC. Chuck just hooked
• 11:22
  Speaker 1: you guys up with some viewers. I'm going to go
• 11:24
  Speaker 1: check that out myself.
• 11:26
  Speaker 3: It's great, you guys would love it.
• 11:27
  Speaker 1: Cool. Well then, I think now, Chuck short Stuff is out.
• 11:34
  Speaker 3: Stuff you Should Know is a production of iHeartRadio. For
• 11:37
  Speaker 3: more podcasts my heart Radio, visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts,
• 11:41
  Speaker 3: or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.