You’ve probably heard of a chickadee, if only from Christmas cards, but they have fascinated scientists for a particular reason: this tiny little bird has a crazy capacity for memory.

We’re up in the eastern Sierra Nevadas, one pass over from where the infamous Donner party got trapped trying to cross the mountain pass. The environment up here is beautiful, but not kind– not only is the air thin from how high up we are, but the summers are blisteringly hot and the winters are bone-chillingly cold, with up to fifteen feet of snow on the ground. Yet somehow, these little birds thrive.

But how? Turns out, they hide and recover tens of thousands of seeds across the forest to eat over the winter, making them a prime candidate to test theories on how the brain works and how specialised brain tasks– like crazy spatial cognition– have evolved. 

Noah Camuso, a journalist and screenwriter from Oregon, and Ai Ana Richmond, a PhD student at the University of Nevada Reno and the first author of the paper, have made this video on the findings of a recent paper on cognitive flexibility in these charming little birds. Feel free to watch along to learn more– and maybe feel a little silly the next time you forget your keys!