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The Science of Birds

Random Bird Thursday: A Fire-Loving Songbird Adorned with Black Oil Drops

The Science of Birds

Ivan Phillipsen

Science, Birdwatching, Nature, Natural History, Birding, Birds, Life Sciences, Biology

4.8961 Ratings

🗓️ 8 January 2026

⏱️ 16 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

In each Random Bird Thursday (RBT) episode, the goal is to highlight a bird species that probably isn't going to get featured in a full-length podcast episode. These are birds we might overlook, even though they certainly deserve some appreciation and attention. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ⚠️ SPOILER ALERT! The featured species in this episode is the Groundscraper Thrush (Turdus litsitsirupa) Groundscraper Thrush sounds: Wikimedia file and Xeno Canto recording XC347146) Support the show

Transcript

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0:00.0

Hello and welcome.

0:09.5

This is the Science of Birds.

0:16.2

I am your host, Ivan Philipson.

0:19.5

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

0:26.4

And hey, guess what? It's Random Bird Thursday.

0:33.6

Random Bird Thursday episodes are relatively short and sweet.

0:37.7

In each of them, I spotlight a bird species that probably won't get featured in a full-length podcast episode.

0:44.3

Because there are over 11,000 bird species in the world, Random Bird Thursday gives us a chance to celebrate one species that we might otherwise overlook.

0:55.7

So which bird are we talking about today?

0:58.2

Well, let's hit the random bird selector button and find out.

1:17.9

Okay, excellent. We have the ground scraper thrush, tortoise Litsitsirupa.

1:23.2

Yes, the ground scraper thrush, not the skyscraper thrush. That would be something else.

1:27.7

But apparently there are such things as buildings called ground scrapers.

1:30.1

And they're just exactly what you'd think.

1:33.8

Just really big buildings that have very few floors, like one floor.

1:34.7

Yeah.

1:35.9

So that's a ground scraper.

1:38.4

But we're talking about a bird, of course.

1:42.7

This thrush is a bird found in Africa.

1:45.0

And we'll talk about the distribution in a little bit.

1:47.9

But first, let's get into what it looks like and sounds like and all of that fun stuff.

1:50.2

So here we go.

...

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