Hooded Pitohui

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Welcome to the 30th installment of Shit That Can Kill You Fridays!

This week's STCKYF features the Hooded Pitohui.

Don't know how to pronounce that? Me neither, but let's just do our best! The Hooded Pitohui is a bird native to New Guinea (hence the funky name). It is roughly 9 inches tall and weighs in at 2.3-2.7 oz. That sounds impossibly small to me, but I read it online, so you know it's true.  Plus it's a bird, and birds fly. And fat birds don't go as high. 

"But Charles, this is a punk little bird. I'm not scared of it. It's so small and bird like, it's almost cute enough to eat." Dwight, you fool! Of all the birds you could potentially eat, this is by far the worst. You see, the skin of the Hooded Pitohui contains powerful neurotoxic alkaloids called batrachotoxin. "Hold on there Charles, where have I heard the term batrachotoxin before?" I'm glad you asked, Dwight. If you look back in your notes (you have been taking notes, right?) you will see that batrachotoxin is the same poison used by Golden Poison Dart Frogs. Except the only problem is, for the toxin to be effective, the Hooded Pitohui has to be eaten... so probably not the best defense (cause you know, if you've been eaten chances are you're dead). 

These birds are creepy looking. Their plumage is predominantly orange and black, which is perfect for their annual Halloween party. And if orange, the universal color of caution, was not enough to make you want to avoid interacting with these things... their eyes are red. Like a sinister red. Remember how the Golden Poison Dart Frog was the devil? Well, these birds might be Satan with those disturbing eyes. My theory is that the poison found both in the frog and Hooded Pitohui is what makes them evil. It's like The Ring from Lord of the Rings, or bad hair and the "band" One Direction.

*COOL FACT ALERT*

The Hooded Pitohui gains its toxic ability from the beetles it eats. Beetles from the genus, choresine, to be more specific. This is according to The California Academy of Sciences, so it's probably not reliable at all. I believe they gain their power from ritual scarifies to Tiamat, the Mesopotamian dragon of chaos. For the sake of argument, let's believe these California scientists. If these birds gain their toxic ability from their diet, and if we remember that the golden poison dart frog does the same, then we only come to one conclusion... START EATING BEETLES. Eat enough of them and you just might become toxic yourself. Who wouldn't want that? It would be a real surprise for the next thing that tries to eat you. Don't know what that might be? Damn it, Dwight! Hit the subscribe button if you haven't already and I can try to remedy that. 

Stay safe out there.

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Charles R Mercer

Amateur Ornithologist