“Birds are fed by their parents in their infancy,” read the tweet that accompanied the video, which was viewed more than 30 million times. “When the time comes to feed themselves, there can be some confusion when the food does not go into their mouth by itself.”
The same text and video were published on the Reddit forum “Interesting As F**k,” where it amassed more than 100,000 votes.
Stephanie Beilke, the senior manager of conservation science at Audubon Great Lakes, told Newsweek that progress looks different within various bird species.
The bird seen in the video is a type of songbird, and many of those types of birds are fed by both of their parents for up to a month, even after they leave the nest.
“Depending on the species and how long it’s been in the area, chicks that fledge will follow around one parent for a period of time,” Beilke said.
She explained that songbirds take about two weeks before they leave the nest. During that time, adults are feeding them. They “fledge” when they leave the nest for the first time.
“After they’ve fledged, they don’t come back to the nest,” Beilke said. “The parents will take them elsewhere, otherwise a predator can find them.”
They often stay within close distance to the nest because it takes birds some time to build up their strength to fly.
Beilke said the bird in the video appeared to be very young and was likely in its early stages of being out of the nest.
She said over the course of a few weeks, young birds watch their parents forage for food, though there is some instinct involved in knowing how to eat.
“They’re always close to their parents and watching and learning,” Beilke said.
In the video, the bird follows what it hopes to be its food. As it stopped, it leaned in close with its mouth wide open but seemed confused when the bug didn’t leap into its mouth.
This goes on several times before the video ended.
The short clip inspired viewers on Twitter and Reddit to share their thoughts.
“I, too, wish food would just go into my mouth by itself,” a Twitter user wrote.
“How rude,” wrote another Twitter user. “It just keeps squirming around and not at all jumping in the beak.”
“I hate when my dinner keeps running away,” a Redditor commented.
“This entitled generation,” one Reddit user joked.
Other clips that previously went viral have recently resurfaced, including footage from a Ring doorbell that showed a bear cub trying to catch snowflakes and a video that showed a dog impersonating a snake as it appeared to have slithered across the floor.
Another video that showed a humpback whale breaking through the water’s surface at an Alaskan marina also resurfaced and went viral.
