303: The Birds!

Trace found some delightful random facts about birds! Today we're talking "anting", talons locked to the death, and musical cockatoos. Show Notes: Journal of Ornithology: Anting behavior in birds Video of crow anting: aka the spicy spa Bird Note: anting Facebook video of bald eagles cartwheeling Bird Note: Eagles cartwheeling Palm Cockatoos playing their instruments Research paper on Palm Cockatoos Funny vid with Conan O'Brien and a palm cockatoo guest Transcript: [00:00:03] Speaker A: Welcome to Brain Junk. I'm Amy Barton. [00:00:05] Speaker B: And I'm Trace Kerr. And I just saw a spider and I'm terrified. But we're going to do this episode because I'm an adult. Today we're going to, today we're going to talk about everything you never knew you wanted to know about birds. [00:00:20] Speaker A: Just everything about birds. [00:00:21] Speaker B: Everything. [00:00:22] Speaker A: People grab a hot beverage. [00:00:24] Speaker C: Yep. [00:00:24] Speaker B: This episode, it's going to be like 12 hours. It's an eight part episode. No, it's like three things that I really thought were cool. And that's everything. So there you go. [00:00:33] Speaker A: Excellent. [00:00:34] Speaker C: Yeah. [00:00:34] Speaker B: We're winning at information, but I saw the spider. You mentioned ants, and the first thing we're going to talk about is this thing called anting. A-N-T-I-N-G. So it's perfect. It's just synergy. We're just coming together. [00:00:48] Speaker A: Love it. [00:00:51] Speaker B: If you don't like ants, just, you have to skip through this beginning little part. [00:00:56] Speaker A: If you see a whole nest of them, do your feet tingle? If I see a whole pile of them, my feet are like having accidentally. [00:01:04] Speaker B: Stood with my foot in a red ant nest in Georgia. They're so spicy. [00:01:11] Speaker C: Yeah. [00:01:12] Speaker A: I feel like the warmer it gets, the spicier the ants get. That far south. Those are some very exciting ants. [00:01:21] Speaker B: Well, and here's the thing. [00:01:22] Speaker C: Okay. [00:01:22] Speaker B: So there's at least 250 species of birds like crows and robins and jays that love that acidic spa treatment. That is what anting is. Yeah. Okay, so the very thing that we think birds want, the formic acid. [00:01:44] Speaker A: Whoa. Excuse me. I'm so sorry. Did that just blow out your ears? That wasn't an ant effect. [00:01:50] Speaker B: No, it wasn't. Also, it wasn't a. Dad. Know where you're. [00:01:54] Speaker C: Yeah. [00:01:56] Speaker A: Here comes one more. I'm sorry. [00:01:58] Speaker B: Maybe look at the light. [00:01:59] Speaker C: There we go. [00:01:59] Speaker A: Excuse me. Goodness. Okay, Georgia. Spicy ants. [00:02:05] Speaker C: Yeah. [00:02:05] Speaker B: So spicy ants. The thing that makes them spicy is formic acid. Although red ants... This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit brainjunkpodcast.substack.com