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from the Steve Harvey Morning

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Portions of this program were

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pre-recorded. Hey, can I say

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something? Attention Sione! Attention! Attention!

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Attention! You gotta hear this.

0:42

This is hilarious. Oh gosh!

0:44

Welcome to the show that

0:47

you're coming here. Oh my

0:49

God. You guys are watching.

0:51

You guys. I hear you

0:54

every morning. By the way,

0:56

I just laughed and a

0:58

booger came out of my nose.

1:09

owls, what's happening. We will

1:11

also learn about how an

1:13

owl was at the center

1:16

of a fight for the

1:18

endangered species act. And we

1:20

will, in the show with

1:22

a little short and sweet,

1:24

cute story about robots taking

1:26

care of birds, which I

1:28

do love. Discover this and

1:31

more. As we answer the

1:33

age-old question, was the Wild

1:35

Robot, just a documentary? Joining

1:37

me today, is Friend of

1:39

the Show, producer, host of

1:42

the podcast Rough Stuff, as

1:44

well as Shooting Three's Bridget

1:46

Greenberg. Welcome! It's me. I heard an

1:49

owl the other day at like at like four

1:51

in the morning and I was

1:53

very excited and I woke up

1:55

my boyfriend who was not as

1:57

excited as me about hearing an owl.

1:59

I'm so... proud of you Bridget

2:01

I can't even begin like this

2:03

is I this is why you're

2:06

on the show I approve so

2:08

much tell your boyfriend he's wrong

2:10

yeah this happens with my husband

2:13

all the time where I'm like

2:15

did you hear that bird he's

2:17

like what are you talking about

2:20

it's like do you have ears

2:22

do you not hear the birds

2:24

like they're all around us I

2:27

so I cannot fall I cannot

2:29

navigate to save my life I

2:32

will like go into a building

2:34

exit the building and run directly

2:36

into like either traffic or a

2:39

wall. I can never find my

2:41

way around. I have no sense

2:43

of direction. The fact that I'm

2:46

not in a parking garage right

2:48

now, looking for my car is

2:50

amazing. No, no, I know, same,

2:53

same. I've been stuck in a

2:55

parking garage just going around and

2:57

around and around for like more

3:00

times than I care to admit.

3:02

And I do sometimes have to

3:04

be guided. like a sort of

3:07

untrained mongrel. To make sure I

3:09

do not interact dangerously with traffic.

3:11

So you would think that, okay,

3:14

my skills of observation are not

3:16

that great. But the thing is,

3:18

I'm using like 99% of my

3:21

brain power to like hear, listen

3:23

for and observe birds. So every

3:25

time I hear. Yeah, I'm like,

3:28

I'm like Brett, who's my husband

3:30

like Brett. There's a koot, did

3:32

you hear that? That was a

3:35

koot. Hey, there was a, there's

3:37

a tit. Did you hear that

3:39

tit? Hey, there was a housepara,

3:42

did you hear that? They'll guide

3:44

you, the birds will guide you,

3:46

possibly into traffic. But the point

3:49

is, it's really important to observe

3:51

birds at the expense of any

3:53

other sort of like that. So

3:56

we're on the same page there.

3:58

And people have been observing. One

4:00

particular bird near Lake Huron, Michigan.

4:03

People have spotted an orange owl.

4:05

Orange owl just dropped. Uh, yes.

4:07

New orange owl. New orange owl.

4:10

So they have spotted a snowy

4:12

owl that people have named either

4:14

Rusty or Creamsicle. I kind of

4:17

like Creamsicle. Yeah, I'm sort of

4:19

on the, I'm voting for Creamsicle

4:21

is the name. Yeah, Rusty is

4:24

like, yeah, cute classic. There are

4:26

probably other birds named Rusty, Creamsicle

4:28

is it. That's an original name.

4:31

Also if you see this bird,

4:33

oh wait, I have to give

4:35

you the images. This is like

4:38

a bright, this is not just

4:40

kind of orange in the sense

4:43

of, no, it's not a rest

4:45

color. Yeah, it's like a, like

4:47

how a fox is orange or

4:50

whatever, where it's like, it's a

4:52

pretty decent, foxes are a decent

4:54

orange, but it's like a natural

4:57

looking orange. This is bright synthetic

4:59

looking orange. Yeah, it's like someone,

5:01

like a toddler started coloring with

5:04

a crann and then forgot. Yep.

5:06

That is precisely. precisely what it

5:08

looks like. Like a toddler kind

5:11

of spilled some cran juice, cran

5:13

juice isn't a thing, but that

5:15

is kind of what kind of

5:18

what it looks like. Yeah, what

5:20

a stunning bird. Very beautiful. But

5:22

yeah, creamsicle. Yeah, creamsicle is a

5:25

name 100% because it's also got

5:27

the white mixed in. It's not

5:29

just a yeah. No, it's 100%

5:32

of creamsicle. Perfect name. No notes

5:34

on that. This bird. is a

5:36

single, it's not that this is

5:39

a new species, this is a

5:41

snowy owl, so this is known.

5:43

And the fact that it looks

5:46

like it's been stained with a

5:48

highlighter or dipped in sauce has

5:50

been, there's been multiple photographs of

5:53

it, so it's not like a

5:55

Photoshop hoax or something of that

5:57

nature. So it is definitely a

6:00

bird that exists, who is orange.

6:02

And we don't really know why.

6:04

So it's not like It's not

6:07

like science is like, oh yes,

6:09

oh yes, we know this is,

6:11

this owl has, uh, orangitis, uh,

6:14

that, you know, or like a

6:16

variety of snowy owl that is

6:18

orange. No, no, no, no, researchers

6:21

are like, no, this is not,

6:23

this is not normal. And so

6:25

there have been a variety of

6:28

theories as to what is going

6:30

on. Obviously, someone could have possibly.

6:32

captured a snowy owl, died it,

6:35

and then released it as a

6:37

prank, which seems somewhat unlikely in

6:39

my opinion. I don't put it

6:42

past... It's not a good prank.

6:44

It's not that I don't put

6:47

it past people. I... You know,

6:49

as much as I love humanity,

6:51

we got some stinkers. We got

6:54

some stinkers and we got some

6:56

perverts. So I would believe a

6:58

person would do this. It's that

7:01

I doubt. It seems in the

7:03

realm. Yeah. It's that I doubt

7:05

the person who would want to

7:08

die an owl orange would have

7:10

the capacity to do it. You

7:12

know what I mean? Like a

7:15

pigeon, sure. You can catch a

7:17

pigeon. So like people have caught

7:19

pigeons and like done weird things

7:22

to pigeons like glued little hats

7:24

to their heads, which I disapprove

7:26

of don't do that. If a

7:29

pigeon wants to wear a hat,

7:31

it'll wear a hat. You don't,

7:33

if you glue it to a

7:36

hat. It will find a hat.

7:38

Yeah. They're around enough trash. They'll

7:40

find a hat. And honestly like

7:43

pigeon fashion is so far advanced

7:45

from human fashion like pigeons who

7:47

wear bread around their necks or

7:50

bagels around their necks. beyond us.

7:52

Yeah, we're not ready for that

7:54

runway walk. No, no, exactly. So

7:57

leave the pigeons alone, but yeah,

7:59

like I would I would believe

8:01

this was a prank if it

8:04

was a pigeon because people are

8:06

weird. But a snowy owl, I

8:08

don't see how someone would catch

8:11

it. I mean, it's possible, but

8:13

it just It seems like an

8:15

odd thing to do. It's not

8:18

done by researchers, right? Because there

8:20

are like bird conservation projects and

8:22

stuff, but there's no- Right, there

8:25

are other ways to tag a

8:27

bird. There used to be, I

8:29

think like a few decades ago,

8:32

there used to be some things

8:34

where they would use paint to

8:36

track birds, but that was a

8:39

long, long time ago. We don't

8:41

do that anymore. It's banding birds.

8:43

Yeah. So that's a lot of

8:46

paint. Yeah, I would imagine. Yeah,

8:48

I would imagine. Yeah, I would

8:50

imagine they just like kind of

8:53

give a stripe when they did

8:55

it not try to. Yeah, they

8:58

didn't dunk they didn't dunk the

9:00

bird into sort of the that

9:02

little package of seasoning that comes

9:05

in with a craft macaroni and

9:07

cheese. Yeah. Yeah. So various researchers

9:09

have various theories. So one is

9:12

by. Michigan State University bird coloration

9:14

expert Kevin McGraw, who thinks it's

9:16

possible the owl has a mutation

9:19

resulting from environmental factors such as

9:21

pollution. So that's theory number one,

9:23

that this bird is an orange

9:26

mutant. Huh, sad for the reason,

9:28

but cool turnout. Like, if we

9:30

get more orange owls, that's pretty

9:33

cool, but you know, for bad

9:35

reasons. Ultimately, net zero. Yeah, I

9:37

don't want the lesson to be,

9:40

let's keep orangeing our owls. Like,

9:42

no, it's a net negative for

9:44

sure, but, uh, cool. But that's,

9:47

that's a theory, right? That is

9:49

not, there's been no evidence of

9:51

that, other than the fact there's

9:54

an orange owl going around. Ahburn

9:56

University ornithologist Jeffrey Hill believes it

9:58

is not a mutation. The pattern

10:01

of coloration seems to be a

10:03

dye that was applied. But again,

10:05

the question is why and who

10:08

and how and what Yeah, what

10:10

I mean I like I people

10:12

are weird and they really are

10:15

someone be so I'm being like

10:17

this is my bird and I

10:19

want to know it's my bird

10:22

but I will seem hard to

10:24

like I've had enough like trouble

10:26

trying to trim a house cat's

10:29

nails. I can't imagine trying to

10:31

die an entire owl. I've often

10:33

thought about how one would go

10:36

about dying an entire owl. I've

10:38

given a lot of thought about

10:40

it, a lot of thought to

10:43

it, but I would imagine it

10:45

would be quite difficult and owls

10:47

are essentially the cats of the

10:50

sky. Yeah. Yeah, they have that

10:52

vibe. They really do. They don't

10:54

want to be dyed. And so

10:57

it's not like, it's not like

10:59

in every potter where the owls

11:01

are just gonna like fly around

11:04

and deliver you mail and let

11:06

you do weird wizard stuff to

11:09

it. It's not gonna like that

11:11

and it's gonna. Right. Use its

11:13

big claws on you. Yeah, every

11:16

time I've seen an owl at

11:18

like a zoo or some sort

11:20

of bird show. Bird show isn't

11:23

the word that you're looking for

11:25

but all right yeah you know

11:27

you know you know they come

11:30

on with bird yeah bird show

11:32

bird show you're right I apologize

11:34

I apologize it is called bird

11:37

show bird show this is this

11:39

is bird show yeah this is

11:41

bird show yeah they do have

11:44

the vibe of cats of like

11:46

gaze upon me do not come

11:48

near me yes but gaze yeah

11:51

you make gaze The last theory

11:53

is the one that I believe

11:55

in. This is the explanation that

11:58

really does it for me. A

12:00

third bird expert, Dr. Scott Weed

12:02

and Schnall. Also, he has the

12:05

best name, so I got to

12:07

go with him. He's the co-founder

12:09

of Project Snowstorm, a snowy owl

12:12

research group. He told the New

12:14

York Times, New York Times is,

12:16

is that how you say that?

12:19

New York Times is James Kugnollie.

12:21

New York Times is James Kugnollie.

12:23

The most likely explanation is that

12:26

it was de icing fluid at

12:28

an airport, since some formulations are

12:30

that red orange color. I think

12:33

he's also sad. I think that's

12:35

what happens. That feels the most

12:37

true. That feels the right. That

12:40

like does it for me. That

12:42

that kind of feels like the

12:44

Occam's razor. The simplest answer is

12:47

the best. This allergist got spilt

12:49

on. Right. Exactly. Like when I

12:51

look at this alum like yeah,

12:54

that guy could have gotten blitzed

12:56

with a D. I. S. kind

12:58

of tie-dye pattern. The pattern, right?

13:01

And also like, there's like some

13:03

white feathers above the orange ones

13:05

and it's like, yeah, it could

13:08

have also molded some of the

13:10

other feathers and so that's why

13:12

some of them look like pristine

13:15

and other ones are sort of

13:17

like have this color screen on

13:20

it. So I think this guy

13:22

got blasted with plain juice. Oh.

13:24

No. Yeah. And that also his

13:27

face in the first one is

13:29

like. Yeah, get me. Yeah, he's,

13:31

he's a, that big skybird got

13:34

me. This is a, this is

13:36

a, this is a bird that

13:38

now has a vendetta against planes,

13:41

which does worry me. Yeah, yeah.

13:43

I think we should be concerned

13:45

about that. We should watch out

13:48

for this bird if you're in

13:50

the sky. Yeah, it does seem

13:52

like it just takes one. Yeah,

13:55

uh, so yeah, cream sickle, cream.

13:57

creamsicles revenge hopefully won't happen but

13:59

yeah poor creamsicle also if you

14:02

are in the Michigan Lake Huron

14:04

area do not snitch on creamsicle

14:06

I can't I can't emphasize this

14:09

enough don't be a snitch if

14:11

you see creamsicle feel free to

14:13

take a photo, marvel at creamsicles,

14:16

beauty, and orange appearance, but do

14:18

not post online where you see

14:20

creamsicle. If you take a photo

14:23

and you want to share it

14:25

online, scrub it of any identifying

14:27

information because people do not want

14:30

this owl to be harassed. This

14:32

owl is like a bird celebrity.

14:34

It's like bird scarlet Johansson. I

14:37

think I saw recently this. post

14:39

about like Scarlet Johansson doesn't like

14:41

to take photos with fans because

14:44

she it's like kind of an

14:46

invasion of her privacy and it's

14:48

like yeah that completely makes sense

14:51

scarjo i'm a hundred percent on

14:53

her side like she's got some

14:55

stockers so she doesn't want photos

14:58

taken that makes sense creamsicle is

15:00

the Scarlet Johansson of owls and

15:02

and and yeah yes that's beautiful

15:05

yeah like if you know where

15:07

she is no you don't no

15:09

you don't Yeah, I Yeah, I

15:12

feel like owls are very, you

15:14

know, solitary and like their silence

15:16

too. I'm sure they don't want

15:19

swarms of People around them. No,

15:21

no, they don't following them. Yeah,

15:23

and You know, it's already been

15:26

through so much. It was so

15:28

exciting to see an orange owl

15:31

and I was like, oh, yeah,

15:33

it got hit with plane. The

15:35

good news is that The good

15:38

news is that the sort of

15:40

Michigan wildlife conservation group has said

15:42

that the owl appears to be

15:45

in good health. So great, creamsicle

15:47

seems fine. I keep saying the

15:49

owl, we don't actually know the

15:52

owl sex. I'm calling her a

15:54

her because she's beautiful but yeah

15:56

could could easily be a meal

15:59

but yeah so it's a care

16:01

yeah probably not probably does not

16:03

care it's like all right is

16:06

that mouse is that tasty mouse

16:08

no don't care yeah so that's

16:10

its priority yeah tasty mouse kill

16:13

the mouse no all right creamsicle

16:15

seems to be doing fine that's

16:17

good probably got blasted with the

16:20

plane juice yeah oh it's got

16:22

a cool as long as it's

16:24

healthy it's healthy It's got a

16:27

cool dive. It's got a, it's

16:29

got, you know. I try something

16:31

out. It's got cool vibes. We

16:34

saw her across the room and

16:36

we thought you had cool vibes.

16:38

So, but keep it across the

16:41

room. Don't harass this owl. Yeah,

16:43

don't spray any more plain juice

16:45

on owls. That seems not good.

16:48

That's right. The airport, the local,

16:50

the Michigan airport refused to comment

16:52

on the stories. So. They're like,

16:55

yeah. Yeah, we know. Hey,

16:58

this is Mel Reed. LPD at

17:00

all winner and six time. Lady

17:03

Joe being a tour winner. And

17:05

Kiera Kay Dixon, NBC Sports, reporter

17:07

and host. You forgot to say

17:09

all my Miss America, by the

17:12

way. And we've got new podcast.

17:14

Quiet, please, with Mel. And Kiera,

17:16

we are bringing you spicy takes

17:18

on sports and pop culture, some

17:21

golf haps, and interviews with incredible

17:23

people who have figured out how

17:25

to make golf their superpower. Or

17:28

just people we like. Plus Tales

17:30

from the road and everything in

17:32

between. By the way, go home

17:34

isn't just for the dads, brads,

17:37

and chats. Yeah, it's actually life's

17:39

cheat code and we're not going

17:41

to be quiet about it on

17:43

or off the course. We're bringing

17:46

on some of our friends like

17:48

Michelle Lee, Heather McMahon, Amanda Baliodas.

17:50

So if you want to keep

17:53

up with us and here's your

17:55

app, tune into our new podcast.

17:57

Listen to Quiet Please with Mel

17:59

and Kira. or wherever you get

18:02

your podcasts. the closer you'll be.

18:04

So we asked kids, what do

18:06

you want your parents to hear?

18:08

I feel sometimes that I'm not

18:11

listening to. I would just want

18:13

you to listen to me more

18:15

often and evaluate situations with me

18:17

and lead me towards success. Listening

18:20

is a form of love. Find

18:22

resources to help you support your

18:24

kids and their emotional well-being at

18:27

Sound It Out together.org. Al-Tinder

18:30

just dropped, Bridget, I know you're,

18:32

like, if you're worried about owls

18:35

finding love, worry no longer, Al-Tinder

18:37

is here. Oh, thank God. So

18:39

Western burrowing owls, which are literally

18:42

the cutest owl in existence? They

18:44

are, are those, well, no, not

18:47

Western, I was thinking of the

18:49

hoot owls. The hoot owls? From

18:51

the Karl Hyacen book, they were,

18:54

they were in Florida book. in

18:56

a movie called Hoot about burrowing

18:58

owls. Yeah, well, burrowing owls are

19:01

all going to be cute though,

19:03

no matter where they are. These

19:06

ones are Western burrowing owls found

19:08

in California and they are adorable.

19:10

They are terrestrial owls, which means

19:13

that I mean they can fly,

19:15

but they burrow. They spend their

19:18

time in burrows. They spend most

19:20

of their time on the ground

19:22

hunting and they are, I think

19:25

the cutest owl in existence. Yeah,

19:27

sometimes they lie on their tumtums

19:30

just to like, yeah, get that

19:32

like sunbathe. They're small owls. They're

19:34

brown with these big yellow eyes.

19:37

They only weigh about five ounces.

19:39

They're truly a handheld owl. Yeah,

19:42

they're little tiny birds. They're owl

19:44

mini and they're super cute. They're

19:46

super cute. They have this perpetual

19:49

look of either shock. a deep

19:51

offense or plain stupidity usually there's

19:54

like a trio of them staring

19:56

at the camera one of them

19:58

looks angry one of them looks

20:01

shocked and the other one looks

20:03

deeply stupid I don't know why

20:06

how they always manage to get

20:08

the three. They always do that.

20:10

The three owls. They're in a

20:13

band. Yeah, they're in boy band

20:15

formation. I will have pictures of

20:17

it in the show notes, but

20:20

I highly recommend just Googling. Yeah,

20:22

they're silly. Burrowing owls. They're very

20:25

silly. Anyways, these little dumb-dums need

20:27

our help finding love. This is

20:29

an article in Geobayo by Kate

20:32

Furby, which is the. Perfect name

20:34

to be writing about the burrowing

20:37

owls. Yeah, they are Furby like

20:39

they are Furby's they're real Furby's

20:41

So apparently these owls are their

20:44

populations have been declining in the

20:46

San Francisco Bay Area and one

20:49

of the problems with population decline

20:51

especially when it comes to urbanization

20:53

or suburbanization suburban crawl is that

20:56

you are kind of making these

20:58

genetic bottlenecks and so genetic diversity

21:01

goes down in the overall health

21:03

of the species declines. So owl

21:05

conservationists have created basically owl love

21:08

island. So it's a camp for

21:10

owls where they go as juveniles

21:13

and it's to like they check

21:15

on their health they banned them

21:17

they do like genetic tests and

21:20

blood tests and then like for

21:22

the winter period because a lot

21:25

of the juveniles are it's still

21:27

the population in this area is

21:29

still somewhat fragile so they keep

21:32

the juveniles there over winter and

21:34

this big bird sanctuary so that

21:37

they're they're grow up nice and

21:39

healthy and then they. play like

21:41

matchmaker for these birds. But they

21:44

do it by finding juveniles and

21:46

it's to like they check on

21:48

their health they banned them they

21:51

do like genetic tests and blood

21:53

tests and then like for the

21:56

winter period because a lot of

21:58

the juveniles are it's still the

22:00

population in this area is still

22:03

somewhat fragile so they keep the

22:05

juveniles there. over winter in this

22:08

big bird sanctuary so that they're,

22:10

they grow up nice and healthy.

22:12

And then they play like matchmaker

22:15

for these birds. But they do

22:17

it by finding like the least

22:20

inbred match for them. So one

22:22

of the problems when you have

22:24

a declining population is if the

22:27

birds mate with someone like their

22:29

cousin, it's not great. They're trying

22:32

to get these birds to stop

22:34

doing incest so much. Doing incest.

22:36

So they find a bird that's

22:39

like very genetically distant from the

22:41

other bird. Paramup. And when they're

22:44

like when they are adults and

22:46

they are released from bird love

22:48

camp, they just it's like you

22:51

will ask like, okay, how do

22:53

you like have birds get married?

22:56

What do you mean like these

22:58

you're matching? these birds like they're

23:00

birds what do you do yeah

23:03

you throw both of them in

23:05

a hole so yeah yeah that

23:07

will do it that'll do it

23:10

they find burrows for these birds

23:12

because they they they like like

23:15

they either make them or find

23:17

the burrow and they will take

23:19

them the pair the matched set

23:22

that there's like you are this

23:24

is this this this matched pair

23:27

is the most genetically diverse birds

23:29

they're the least related you're not

23:31

cousins so congratulations They stick them

23:34

in the hole and the birds

23:36

are like cool with it. Like

23:39

they, they, they're just like, okay.

23:41

Because again, at this point, they're-

23:43

This is whole, I live in

23:46

whole. Yeah. Hey, you're, you live

23:48

in whole too? We have so

23:51

much in common. Yeah. What else

23:53

do you need? This whole is

23:55

nice? This is it. Yeah, you're

23:58

the bird of my dreams. You're

24:00

also in home. I'm in hole,

24:03

you're in hole. It's a nice

24:05

hole. So like it seems to

24:07

work because again because it's like

24:10

it is there out in the

24:12

wild that in the wild at

24:15

this point they can do whatever

24:17

they want yeah but they're pretty

24:19

happy usually with this match and

24:22

they're not always like a hundred

24:24

percent monogamous but they tend to

24:26

be like they they might have

24:29

like some breeding seasons where they

24:31

go and they like kind of

24:34

get a hall pass they explore

24:36

it explore a little bit so

24:38

they're it's like an open marriage

24:41

but like they they they've been

24:43

in a whole for so long

24:46

they get out a whole I

24:48

met someone today who also lives

24:50

in whole. Crazy, right? Crazy, right.

24:53

So yeah, they seem to be

24:55

happy with the matches. And apparently

24:58

this is working, like surprisingly well,

25:00

by diversifying their DNA. This has

25:02

resulted in their telomeres doubling in

25:05

length, which is really good news

25:07

for the owl population. On the

25:10

end of your DNA you have

25:12

like this strand of proteins that

25:14

don't necessarily do anything but it's

25:17

kind of like you know how

25:19

like on the end of your

25:22

zipper you have that like long

25:24

metal thingy that like stops the

25:26

zipper from just like coming off

25:29

that's what a telomere is essentially

25:31

it's like a strand of proteins

25:34

that prevents the things that like

25:36

run around run along the DNA

25:38

copying the DNA called like enzymes

25:41

from basically messing up once it

25:43

gets to the end of it.

25:46

And so the shorter the telomere

25:48

the more basically the shorter the

25:50

lifespan of the organism because then

25:53

you start getting more and more

25:55

errors, chance of cancer, chance of

25:57

errors that is incompatible with staying

26:00

alive. And so longer telomeres are

26:02

generally good for an animal. So

26:05

yeah, by this this bird love

26:07

island is creating. healthier birds by

26:09

increasing the bird diversity. Hey, it's

26:12

working. Love Island never works. I

26:14

love that. It feels like summer

26:17

camp for birds. It is, yeah.

26:19

I went to like a sleepway

26:21

camp that was like, that felt

26:24

like this, of like, find your

26:26

nice little Jewish boy. And that's

26:29

what this owl camp is. I

26:31

went to a science camp and

26:33

it was, you know, nerds are

26:36

very horny. So, yeah, famously, surprisingly,

26:38

surprisingly horny nerds. I was in

26:41

the computer science group and yeah,

26:43

like, yeah, I would say probably

26:45

the, probably the horniest group and

26:48

the least likely to do anything

26:50

about it. Yeah, yeah, they're not

26:53

quite on the scale of band

26:55

nerds. Yes. On the horny and

26:57

the scale of band nerds. But

27:00

band nerds like get pretty freaky

27:02

with it. I feel like. Yeah.

27:05

Yeah. Yeah. There are theater nerds

27:07

or band nerds. Yeah. All those

27:09

spitbells. Yeah. Anyways. Yeah, so Al-

27:12

I'm glad they're finding love. Al-tender

27:14

is working really well for these

27:16

burrowing owls, which is, it's great

27:19

news. So- You just drop them

27:21

in a hole with another owl.

27:24

And that rarely works. You just

27:26

drop in a, you just drop

27:28

them in a hole with another

27:31

owl. Which, you know, if only

27:33

love were that easy. Maybe it

27:36

could be. It could possibly be.

27:38

That's what I feel like I

27:40

went through with my husband, like

27:43

we went through the pandemic together

27:45

and so it was kind of

27:48

like we were dropped in a

27:50

hole together and it really is.

27:52

Yeah, that's exactly right. I turned

27:55

to him like, wait, you're in

27:57

whole too? We have so much

28:00

in common. I'm in whole, you're

28:02

in whole, I'm in whole, I'm

28:04

in whole. Yeah, I think my

28:07

boyfriend and I came out of

28:09

the other side of the pandemic

28:12

being like, oh, we can be

28:14

alone together for three years and

28:16

not going outside? All right, all

28:19

right. Yeah, yeah. Invite the person

28:21

that you like to a whole.

28:24

And also, and also when you're

28:26

this cute, yeah, it's a little,

28:28

a fun fact about baby burrowing

28:31

ows, they can hiss like a

28:33

rattlesnake to ward off predators. So

28:36

they just like little angry balls.

28:38

Yeah, they're little. I feel like

28:40

they don't have a lot of

28:43

other defenses. One of their defenses

28:45

is stomping snakes like if a

28:47

snake tries to get in the

28:50

burrow to like get the babies,

28:52

they stomp on them. Yeah. Yeah,

28:55

they do got those sharp claws.

28:57

They do. Yeah. They're feisty. They're

28:59

like little tiny kittens of the

29:02

bird kittens, bird kitties. Very cute.

29:04

Cute with claws. Indeed. Hey, this

29:07

is Mel Reed, L.P.G. at all

29:09

winner and six time, Lady Juveen's

29:11

all winner. And Kira Kay Dixon,

29:14

NBC Sports reporter and host. You

29:16

forgot to say all my Miss

29:19

America, by the way, and we've

29:21

got a new podcast. Quiet, Please,

29:23

with Mel and Kira. We are

29:26

bringing you spicy takes on sports

29:28

and pop culture, some golf haps,

29:31

and interviews with incredible people who

29:33

have figured out how to make

29:35

golf their superpower. Or just people

29:38

we like. Plus tales from the

29:40

road and everything in between. By

29:43

the way, golf isn't just for

29:45

the dads, brads, brads, and chats.

29:47

Yeah, it's actually life's cheat cheat

29:50

code, and we're not going to

29:52

be quiet, on or off the

29:55

course. We're bringing on some of

29:57

our friends like Michelle Lee, Heather

29:59

McMahon, Amanda Baliotis. So, if you

30:02

want to keep up with us

30:04

and here's the app, tune into

30:06

our new podcast. Listen to Quiet

30:09

Please with Mel and Kira, an

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You can find us on the

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forward. Don't drive distracted. Brought to

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30:45

council. Last. Owl story. So Northern

30:47

Spotted Owls are at the center

30:50

of a power struggle with the

30:52

Trump administration. Weird, right? Resist. Didn't

30:54

think I was gonna drop politics

30:57

in this episode, did you? Boom,

30:59

gotcha. Welcome to the resistance. Spotted

31:02

Northern Owls. Owls. Yeah, so I,

31:04

you know, like, this is not

31:06

usually a political podcast, but honestly,

31:09

like is... become completely unavoidable because

31:11

of all the stuff happening vis-a-vis

31:14

the environment. So yeah, it's everywhere.

31:16

Yeah, anyways, so Trump has invoked

31:18

a God squad panel, which sounds

31:21

great. So this is, basically, it

31:23

is a panel that relates to

31:26

the endangered species act. It is

31:28

a group of high-level officials who

31:30

are trying to override the Endangered

31:33

Species Act, like a bunch of

31:35

Captain Planet villains. Wow. Yeah, so

31:37

the Endangered Species Act includes a

31:40

provision that allows for some of

31:42

it to be overridden if it

31:45

is in the public interest. So

31:47

this means like... Well, so it's

31:49

supposed to be only applied in

31:52

very, very specific, very rare circumstances.

31:54

It is, that is rarely ever

31:57

happened. Like once it happened because

31:59

there needed to be a dam

32:01

on a body of water. And

32:04

in order, and that threatened the

32:06

whooping crane, so in order to

32:09

do the dam, they had to

32:11

do all of these extra protections

32:13

for the whooping crane to make

32:16

up for the fact that they

32:18

were doing this dam, but they

32:21

needed the dam for, um, either,

32:23

I don't know, for, yeah, for

32:25

water. Water, water, water, probably. Thank

32:28

you, Bridget. That's the word I

32:30

was looking for. And so it's

32:33

really not meant to be used

32:35

very often, but obviously a. In

32:37

this case, like, the interpretation of,

32:40

like, in the public interest seems

32:42

to be now, like, Trump and

32:45

his rich friends. Yeah. And, like,

32:47

what? Yeah. Exactly. And, like, the,

32:49

the villains from Captain Planet, whom

32:52

I forget, like, Dr. Pollution or

32:54

whatever. Yeah. So, uh, the... Basically,

32:56

yeah, so it should it should

32:59

it should not it should not

33:01

this God squad is called the

33:04

God squad because the idea is

33:06

like they have like God. Yeah,

33:08

yeah, they have the power of

33:11

life of death, the blah blah,

33:13

Jurassic Park, etc. So Cool, not

33:16

ominous at all. On to the

33:18

significance of the northern spotted owls.

33:20

These little guys have this brown

33:23

coloration and white spots with Cute

33:25

perpetually grumpy white eyebrow markings. Most

33:28

owls do look grumpy if they

33:30

are not surprised. These ones have

33:32

the added benefit of having like

33:35

like sort of eyebrows which make

33:37

them increase the grumpiness. I'm dropping

33:40

this owl into the document right

33:42

now. Oh that's a grumpy. Every

33:44

animal should have distinctive eyebrows. Yes.

33:47

It makes them. So readable. Yes.

33:49

He looks grumpy. He looks angry.

33:52

He's very grumpy and angry. And

33:54

what I like about that is

33:56

he's basically going, no, you don't.

33:59

To the God squad that's trying

34:01

to. Yeah. So yeah. In 1999.

34:04

to the God squad tried to

34:06

allow logging despite threats to these

34:08

northern spotted owls. And the government

34:11

was sued by environmental groups who

34:13

said that the decision was based

34:16

on politics rather than science and

34:18

due to the litigation the Bureau

34:20

of Land Management withdrew the logging

34:23

request. So the northern spotted owls.

34:25

I just imagine them in the

34:27

courtroom like going like I may

34:30

not be a city city lawyer.

34:32

You know there is also like

34:35

something to the markings around its

34:37

face that makes it look like

34:39

a tough mean judge wearing a

34:42

powdered wig. Yes I want I

34:44

want these owls to be the

34:47

ones leading the prosecution at the

34:49

Hague. Yeah, yeah, no, they have

34:51

like you look at those eyebrows

34:54

and they are you're not you

34:56

don't don't know like there so

34:59

I really you're not getting away

35:01

with it exactly so I really

35:03

do like these spotted owls as

35:06

the symbol of resistance to the

35:08

attack on environmental protections so yeah

35:11

I'm following this owl into battle

35:13

for sure I Yes, I would

35:15

follow this owl. Probably he'd take

35:18

me to a tree and then

35:20

come up a kind of nugget

35:23

of fur and mouse bones and

35:25

I'd be like. Thank you, owl.

35:27

Thank you, owl, for this precious

35:30

gift. I had to dissect one

35:32

of those. Yeah, me too. And

35:35

I like I asked my teacher

35:37

if I could keep all the

35:39

little mouse bones. And she was

35:42

like, yeah, you can. It's not

35:44

suggested that you do, but you

35:46

can. I was like, great. Put

35:49

them in my lunchbox. My mom

35:51

was like, why is there mouse

35:54

bones in your lunchbox? You know.

35:56

Yeah, that's a that teacher had

35:58

to make a make a call

36:01

based on your vibe of like

36:03

is she doing this because she's

36:06

interested or because it was necromancy

36:08

wants to murder. It was necromancy,

36:10

but the educational necromancy. Yeah, yeah,

36:13

the cool kind. So yeah, she

36:15

had to make a real vibe

36:18

decision there on whether you could

36:20

keep them else. And she made

36:22

the right decision. I grew up.

36:25

Almost normal. So last little story

36:27

here, Bridget is about the real

36:30

life wild robot. Did you see

36:32

that movie, Wild Robot? I did.

36:34

And oh, I love it. It

36:37

got me too. I love it

36:39

so much. I'm freaking love the

36:42

movie. It's so good. It's scientifically

36:44

questionable. I don't know what the

36:46

animals manage. Sure. At the end,

36:49

all the animals get along on

36:51

the island. I don't know what

36:54

they're eating, if not each other.

36:56

But... But you know friendship, the

36:58

power of friendship will feed us

37:01

all. The power of friendship, maybe

37:03

they have a system where like

37:05

the old ones, Getty, I know.

37:08

It's like a Donner party system.

37:10

Right, or like, they worked it

37:13

out. Yeah, or like, mid-summer, where

37:15

the old, where the old people

37:17

get thrown off a cliff, but

37:20

in this case, the old animal,

37:22

anyways. The Wild Robot was a

37:25

really adorable movie. I loved it.

37:27

There's a real life Wild Robot

37:29

situation going on. The Chingolo is

37:32

a tiny South American sparrow with

37:34

rusty coloration, which its population is

37:37

in decline. But, which is a

37:39

problem because due to the habitat

37:41

loss and population decline, some of

37:44

the young Chingolos are left without

37:46

adult birds to tutor them to

37:49

teach them how to sing because

37:51

young birds, yes, song birds aren't

37:53

pre-programmed with the songs. They actually

37:56

learn them from older birds. They're

37:58

pre-programmed with the ability to learn

38:01

the songs, but they actually have

38:03

to learn them. And so if

38:05

there's too much habitat loss, not

38:08

a high enough population density of

38:10

birds, they may not learn the

38:13

full song. So the complexity of

38:15

the song is starting to decay.

38:17

And so researchers and conservationists got

38:20

together and created a bird tutor

38:22

robot. which is basically like it

38:25

sounds like it's going to be

38:27

a cute like robotic bird. It's

38:29

more just a speaker. It's more

38:32

of a speaker, but the thing

38:34

is it's a fancy speaker because

38:36

it's not just playing pre-recorded bird

38:39

songs. They trained a model to

38:41

learn how the song used to

38:44

be based on old recordings on

38:46

old notes so that they could

38:48

create a very, not just like

38:51

a... kind of bad recording or

38:53

something, but to create a really

38:56

clear song and one that they

38:58

can like, you know, add variations

39:00

to that, that existed in the

39:03

older song. And so they be.

39:05

A.I. Songwriters. Okay. A.I. Songwriters are

39:08

saving birds. I mean, it is,

39:10

it is, I think it is

39:12

a, a, It's one of the

39:15

applications where it's like this is

39:17

what we should be using. Yes,

39:20

exactly. This is it. Yeah, right.

39:22

A tool. Yes. So it seems

39:24

like some of the young birds

39:27

are learning from the song robots

39:29

and have started incorporating the old

39:32

complexity of the songs into their

39:34

songs. So it does seem to

39:36

be working. And this is happening

39:39

in the in Buenos Aires in

39:41

Pereira Erola Park. So just, you

39:44

know. But I like to, I

39:46

like to judge up the end

39:48

with a little bit of good

39:51

news there. Yeah, that's, that's sweet.

39:53

One technology doing what it is

39:55

supposed to, helping organic species. this

39:58

is what yeah this is what

40:00

we're supposed to be doing with

40:03

technology but not not not laying

40:05

off artists so that we can

40:07

have a movie posters with people

40:10

with like 75 teeth extra fingernails

40:12

and like a nostril in their

40:15

eye yeah yeah something with something

40:17

off just yeah teach the birds

40:19

music again Yeah, and I feel

40:22

like this is it's like baby

40:24

Einstein for birds, you know, like

40:27

they're like, yeah, like reading comprehension

40:29

is going down in younger generations.

40:31

Same with birds, but they figured

40:34

it out. They're learning again. The

40:36

implication is we could also be

40:39

teaching these birds Taylor Swift songs

40:41

and be able to go to

40:43

the Rainforest and hear some good

40:46

dead poet society whenever I want.

40:48

Right, so yeah, you know, you

40:51

don't have to listen to listen

40:53

to someone else hiking. with a

40:55

Bluetooth speaker anymore. It's just the

40:58

bird. Yeah, although I guess like

41:00

if that happens enough, the birds

41:03

are going to start learning whatever

41:05

is on those awful Bluetooth speakers.

41:07

Don't do that folks, by the

41:10

way. Yeah. Not only is it

41:12

kind of annoying for other hikers,

41:15

it's also not great for the

41:17

birds. They don't, it's going to

41:19

confuse them. Yeah, headphones. We don't

41:22

want, you don't, not ever anything

41:24

hear your music or your music.

41:26

All right, before we go, we

41:29

got a. play a quick little

41:31

game. This is called Guess Who

41:34

Squawk in the Mystery Animal Sound

41:36

game. Every week we play a

41:38

mystery animal sound and you, the

41:41

listener and you, the guest, try

41:43

to guess who was making that

41:46

sound. Last week's The Street Animal

41:48

Sound, uh, hint was this, this

41:50

little baby does not want to

41:53

be hung out to dry. All

41:55

right, Bridget, did you hear those,

41:58

those little plaintiff cries? Yeah, my,

42:00

my, uh... My guess is based

42:02

off the clue and it is

42:05

some sort of bat. a very

42:07

good guess based on my clue,

42:10

but sadly I think I was

42:12

a little misleading with it. No,

42:14

this is the call of an

42:17

otter. It's a baby otter. Sometimes

42:19

baby otters are left by their

42:22

mothers to float. Often the mothers

42:24

will kind of entangled them with

42:26

floating kelp so that they don't

42:29

drift away. And they cry like

42:31

this so their mothers know where

42:34

to find them. So they have

42:36

the... So if you ever hear

42:38

like... You're out on a boat,

42:41

out on sea, and then you

42:43

hear a baby crying. I mean,

42:45

it could be a baby if

42:48

you have one with you, but

42:50

it also could be a baby

42:53

otter. Yeah. Oh, God, I love

42:55

otters so much. If I could

42:57

just hold one's little hand. I

43:00

know. And they would probably, they

43:02

might hold your hand back. Yeah,

43:05

so cute. So on to this

43:07

week's Mr. Animal Sound. The hint

43:09

is this, uh, I don't mean

43:12

to bring religion into this. All

43:14

right, British, did you hear that

43:17

weird sound? That was, that was

43:19

a wild one, and... You got

43:21

any guesses? My

43:24

guess is will be very basic and I'm

43:26

gonna go whale. That's a very interesting guess

43:28

and we will find you feature if she

43:30

is correct. Bridget, thank you so much for

43:32

joining me today. Where can you? Where can

43:34

the people find you? You can find me

43:36

on Instagram. Sarah and I, my co-host on

43:39

Small Beans Network, post to up to our

43:41

Instagram BS podcasting and you can also find

43:43

me. Personally, they're at Bridget, underscore, Greenberg. Um,

43:45

then you, I'll post what I'm up to.

43:47

When, when, when things haven't. Do check that

43:49

out. Bridget is delightful in all of her

43:51

works. And thank you guys so much for

43:53

listening. And if you're enjoying the show and

43:56

you leave a reading review that always helps

43:58

me out and I read all of them.

44:00

And thanks to the Space Cossacks for their

44:02

super awesome song, Exelumina Creature, features a production

44:04

of I Heart Radio for more podcasts like

44:06

the one you just heard. Visit the I

44:08

Heart Radio app, Apple Podcast, or I think

44:11

guess what I feel like your favorite your

44:13

favorite shows, your favorite shows. Your favorite shows,

44:15

I'm not your favorite shows, I'm not your

44:17

favorite shows, I'm not your favorite shows. I'm

44:19

not your favorite shows. I'm not your favorite

44:21

shows. I'm not your favorite shows. I'm not

44:23

your favorite shows. I'm not your favorite shows.

44:25

I'm not your favorite shows. I'm not your

44:28

favorite shows. I'm not your favorite. I'm not

44:30

your favorite. I'm not your favorite. Don't do

44:32

it. Don't do it. See you next Wednesday!

44:37

Welcome to Pot of Rebellion,

44:40

our new Star Wars Rebels

44:42

rewatch podcast. I'm Vanessa Marshall,

44:44

voice of Harrison Doolis, Specter,

44:47

too. I'm Tia Zirkar, Sabine

44:49

Renn, Specter, Specter 5. I'm

44:51

Taylor Gray, as a bridge

44:53

of Specter 6. And I'm

44:56

John Librodi, the Ghost Crew

44:58

Sto-way moderator. Each week, we're

45:00

going to rewatch and discuss

45:03

an episode from the series

45:05

and share some fun, behind-the-the-scenes.

45:07

on because it's going to

45:10

be a fun ride. Q

45:12

the music. Listen to Potter

45:14

Rebellion on the I-Hart Radio

45:16

app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever

45:19

you get your podcast.