Bird Expert Answers Bird Tweets From Twitter 🐦 | Tech Support | WIRED
TLDRIn this informative session, ornithologist Sahas Barve explores various intriguing aspects of bird behavior and physiology. He explains how pigeons navigate using magnetite, why geese are noisy, the unique mating rituals of birds, how owls turn their heads almost 270 degrees, and the intelligence of birds like the New Caledonian crow. Barve also discusses bird migration, insulation strategies, the concept of brood parasitism, and the use of tools among birds. He addresses the myth of birds with teeth, the adaptability of bird flight in rain, and the stealthy flight of owls. The session is rounded off with insights into bird calls identification and the fascinating world of bird species hybridization.
Takeaways
- 🕊️ Pigeons navigate using magnetic fields and magnetite in their beaks, which helps them orient even in cloudy conditions.
- 📢 Geese are loud for various reasons, including migration calls, pair bonding, and territorial defense.
- 💔 Birds mate through cloacal kissing, a common orifice for excretion and reproduction, with some species like ducks having unique adaptations.
- 🦉 Owls can turn their heads up to 270 degrees due to their inability to move their eyes and a specialized blood supply network.
- 🌟 Birds migrate by observing their neighbors, creating large formations like murmurations of starlings.
- 🐧 Penguins and chickadees have dense feathers for insulation, allowing them to survive in extremely cold environments.
- 🦜 The New Caledonian crow is considered one of the smartest birds, capable of tool-making and problem-solving.
- 🐔 Chickens are selectively bred to lay unfertilized eggs, unlike most birds that avoid wasting energy and resources on such eggs.
- 👀 Birds have a transparent nictitating membrane that allows them to keep their eyes moist and protected while flying.
- 🌳 Most birds build nests, but some practice brood parasitism, laying their eggs in other birds' nests and relying on them to raise their young.
- 🦩 The loudest bird, the white bellbird, can be louder than planes and uses its loud calls to attract mates.
Q & A
What is the role of magnetite in pigeons' navigation?
-Magnetite in pigeons' beaks, along with magnetoreceptors in their nervous system or brains, helps them to orient in the right direction, allowing them to know which way is north, east, west, or south even in cloudy and windy conditions when they can't see the sun.
Why are geese so loud at night?
-Geese can be loud for multiple reasons, such as preparing to migrate, pairing up in the spring, and vocalizing to strengthen pair bonds or to keep other pairs away from their territory. They may also honk loudly or charge at humans if they feel their eggs or babies are too close.
How do most birds mate?
-Most birds mate through a process called cloacal kissing, where the male and female line up their cloaca (a common orifice for excretion and reproduction) and the male transfers sperm into the female's cloaca.
What is unique about owls' necks that allows them to turn their heads almost 270 degrees?
-Owls have a special blood supply network that compensates for the restriction of blood flow when they turn their heads far around. Additionally, they have evolved to not be able to move their eyes in their sockets, necessitating the movement of their heads to follow objects.
How do birds maintain their body temperature in cold environments?
-Birds have down feathers that catch air close to their body, similar to mammal fur, providing insulation. Penguins and chickadees, for example, have dense down feathers that help them survive in extremely cold environments.
What makes New Caledonian crows stand out in terms of intelligence?
-New Caledonian crows are known for their ability to design and use tools. They can modify sticks to create tools to retrieve food, demonstrating a high level of problem-solving and innovation.
How do birds coordinate their movements during migration?
-Birds coordinate their movements by watching and responding to the actions of their immediate neighbors. This local coordination creates the appearance of a unified and complex formation, even though the entire flock is not perfectly synchronized.
Do all birds build nests?
-Most birds build nests, but some have evolved brood parasitism, where they lay their eggs in the nests of other birds. Cuckoos are an example of this, as they lay their eggs in the nests of other bird species and the host parents raise the cuckoo chick.
What is the significance of the nictitating membrane in birds?
-The nictitating membrane is a third eyelid in birds that allows them to keep their eyes moist and protected while flying. It's transparent, so birds can see while it's closed, protecting their eyes from debris and drying out.
How do birds know where they are going during migration?
-Birds use the Earth's magnetism, stars, and landscape features to navigate. They have been shown to fly across continents and find the same specific locations they used in previous years, such as the same patch of wetland or forest.
Are there any birds that do not have feathers?
-All modern birds have feathers, but there were feathered dinosaurs before the extinction event that led to the evolution of modern birds. Today, no known bird species exist without feathers.
How do birds manage to fly in the rain?
-Birds have water-resistant feathers, particularly the pennaceous barbs, which prevent water from soaking into the rest of the bird's body. This allows them to fly in the rain without getting wet, similar to how ducks can be on the water without appearing wet.
Outlines
🐦 Bird Support Q&A: Pigeon Navigation and Geese Behavior
Sahas Barve, an evolutionary ecologist and ornithologist at the Smithsonian, responds to Twitter queries in 'Bird Support'. He explains how homing pigeons navigate using magnetic fields and landmarks, aided by magnetite in their beaks. Additionally, the loud behavior of geese is discussed, highlighting their communication during migration and territorial defense. The mating processes of birds, particularly cloacal kissing and unique reproductive strategies in ducks, are elucidated. The segment concludes with an intriguing look at owls' neck flexibility, explaining their ability to rotate their heads significantly without cutting off blood supply, facilitated by a special vascular system.
🌍 Avian Intelligence, Migration, and Thermoregulation
The discussion shifts to the intelligence and migration patterns of birds, citing New Caledonian crows' tool-making abilities and the precision of avian navigation across continents. The segment also delves into how birds endure extreme cold, with a focus on their insulating feather structure, likened to down jackets. Unfertilized eggs in birds and their energetically costly nature are explored, alongside the functionality of the nictitating membrane in preventing eye dryness during flight. The concept of brood parasitism is introduced, with cuckoos laying eggs in other birds' nests, leading to interspecies chick rearing.
🦉 Mysteries of Bird Evolution and Playful Behaviors
This section addresses the evolutionary puzzles of birds, notably the absence of teeth post-dinosaur extinction and the ability to fly in adverse weather due to water-resistant feathers. Playfulness in birds, especially crows and ravens, is highlighted, showing their enjoyment in flying for leisure. The silent flight of owls is explained by their unique feather structure, reducing noise to enhance hunting efficiency. Furthermore, the segment covers the use of technology in birdwatching, particularly the Merlin app for identifying bird calls, and discusses birds' tool usage, social learning, and the variability in beak color among species.
🐦 Bird Hybridization and Species Distinctions
The final segment tackles the topic of bird breeding, clarifying that inter-species mating is rare and usually occurs between closely related species, akin to wolf-coyote hybrids. It dispels the notion that all bird species can mate with each other, using the example of the vast genetic distance between an albatross and a wren. The discussion concludes with a broader reflection on bird hybridization, emphasizing the complexity of avian species relationships and genetic lineage, ending with an encouragement for viewers to appreciate and learn more about birds.
Mindmap
Keywords
💡Homing Pigeons
💡Geese Vocalization
💡Cloacal Kiss
💡Owls' Neck Flexibility
💡Murmurations
💡Feather Insulation
💡New Caledonian Crows
💡Nictitating Membrane
💡Brood Parasitism
💡Bird Migration
Highlights
Pigeons have strong abilities to detect magnetic fields and remember landmarks, with magnetite in their beaks aiding in orientation.
Geese are loud due to multiple reasons, including migration, mating, and territorial defense.
Birds mostly have sex through cloacal kissing, a common orifice for excretion and reproduction.
Owls can turn their heads up to 270 degrees due to a unique blood supply network and inability to move their eyes in sockets.
Starlings and other birds coordinate their movements by watching their immediate neighbors.
Birds keep warm with down feathers that catch air close to their body, similar to mammal fur.
New Caledonian crows are known for their tool-making abilities, demonstrating high intelligence.
Birds, including chickens, generally avoid laying unfertilized eggs as it wastes energy and resources.
Birds have a nictitating membrane, a third eyelid, which allows them to keep their eyes moist and protected while flying.
Not all birds build nests; some practice brood parasitism, laying eggs in other birds' nests.
Emu's and other large birds like ostriches are considered dinosaurs, with ancient lineages contributing to their size.
The loudest recorded bird is the white bellbird, which can be louder than some planes.
Birds use the Earth's magnetism, stars, and landscape features for navigation during migration.
No modern birds have teeth, a trait lost after the extinction of dinosaurs despite some earlier bird species possessing them.
Birds can fly in the rain due to water-resistant feathers, which prevent water from soaking the rest of the bird.
Many birds play and fly for fun, performing acrobatic maneuvers and tumbling dives in the air.
Owls have specialized feathers that reduce the sound of their flight, allowing them to hunt silently.
There is a Shazam-like app for bird calls called Merlin, which helps identify bird species from their sounds.
Beak color can vary within bird species and individuals, changing with seasons and driven by the same compounds as feather color.
Some tropical birds migrate following food sources like rain clouds and fruiting cycles.
Birds do breed inter-species, but only closely related species can produce offspring, unlike more distantly related species like albatross and wren.
Transcripts
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