You're listening to Shortwave from NPR.

Hey everyone, it's Regina Barber, and we've got NPR science correspondent Nell Greenfield

Boys here to tell us about a wild bird that has an unusual relationship

with humans. Hey Nell. Hey Gina. Okay so Nell this bird is called The

Greater Honey Guide and honestly I'd never heard of it until, well, today.

What about you?

I heard about it.

Oh, God, maybe 10 years ago?

Maybe not quite that long.

My kids were reading a book, one of those magic tree house books.

It was called Lions at lunchtime.

And in the book, part of the plot is that there's this wild bird

that leads people to honey. That's why it's called the

honey guide and it's a real bird. It's not just like some made-up fiction thing.

These birds are like eyes in the sky and they know where the beehives are hidden inside of tree

trunks and so they'll lead people to those trees people can hack the tree trunks

open subdue the bees with smoke, get the honey,

and then what the bird gets out of it

is they get to eat the discarded wax.

It's just like a fascinating story, right?

And these birds aren't not trained, right?

They're in the wild.

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