Hello and welcome.

This is the Science of Birds.

I am your host, Ivan Philipson.

The Science of Birds podcast is a lighthearted exploration of bird biology for lifelong learners.

And in case you didn't know, it's random bird Thursday.

In this relatively short, mostly unscripted episode, I'll be spotlighting a bird species that

probably isn't going to be featured in one of my full-length episodes.

There are over 11,000 bird species in the world, and random bird Thursday is our chance

to celebrate one species that we might otherwise overlook. So which species are we talking

about today? Well, to find out, we have to push the random bird selector button. So here we go.

Okay, very cool.

We have the Arabian Bustard, Ardaotus Arabs, the Arabian Bustard, a large, elegant bird that is very cool.

So this will be fun to talk about.

And let's just dive right on in.

So the Arabian Bustard, what does this thing look like? Well, if you don't know what a bustard is, from a distance, you might

think it's something like a small ostrich or a Ria or another one of those large flightless

birds, because it is very big, it's got long, powerful legs, but busters can actually fly.

They're not closely related to those other flightless

birds. It has a long neck and a medium-length pointy bill. The male of this species is

larger than the female, and he's about 40 inches long from beak to tail or 100 centimeters.

And he's pretty heavy. Can be 12.5 to 22 pounds, which is 5.7 to 10 kilograms.

Now in fact, this bird is so big and so heavy, and yet it can fly, so it's actually one of the largest flying birds in the world.

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