For the Birds

"For the Birds"
Season/Series:	12
Number in season:	4A
Original Airdate:	October 27, 2008 February 6, 2009 April 15, 2009 November 21, 2012
Credits
Written by:	Joe Purdy
Storyboard by:	Gerry Capelle Michel Carbonneau
Episodes
Previous "Bats in the Belfry"	Next "Ungifted"
Read transcript

"For the Birds" is the first half of the fourth episode in the twelfth season of Arthur.

Summary

Brain dreams of being the first to spot a rare bird called the green-tailed grebe.

Plot

The cold open starts off with Brain in the forest, looking for something rare. He asks if anyone else has seen anything rare. Buster says that he has a 3-year-old holeless doughnut, but Arthur corrects him by saying that it is actually a roll. Binky responds that the rarest thing he has seen is the worst player on the Grebes baseball team get a hit, and Muffy complains about a steak that is not rare. Brain finishes the segment when he hears a noise.

In the episode proper, Brain is listening to a nature program on the radio that says that the green-tailed grebe, a very rare species of bird, is somewhere in Elwood City. Wanting to make history by being the first one to see it, Brain searches for it in the forest, only to run into Mr. Ratburn, who is also bird-watching. Brain chooses to keep it a secret that he is searching for the grebe.

The next day at school, Mr. Ratburn posts a sign-up sheet for a bird-watching club. The other students sign up, despite Brain's objections. The class soon goes on a trip, and Brain is paired up with Arthur and Buster. He soon tells them that he is looking for the green-tailed grebe, and wants them to keep it a secret.

However, Buster spills the beans the next day while at school, which makes Brain perturbed and causes him to quit the club. Feeling guilty about his actions, Buster disguises himself as a monster and goes to the forest to scare everyone off.

The next day, Brain heads back to the forest, and this time, Buster joins him. They find the grebe, but it soon flies away after Brain accidentally plays a recording of a Chickin' Lickin promo and Buster fails to record the grebe's call. In the end, Brain is relieved that they at least saw the grebe, so he and Buster walk off happily.

Characters

• The Brain
• Buster Baxter
• Arthur Read
• Muffy Crosswire
• Binky Barnes
• Nigel Ratburn
• Bailey (cameo)
• 3rd Grade Female Cat (Number 2) (cameo)
• 3rd Grade Male Dog (Number 3) (cameo)
• Jessica Simmons (cameo)
• Fern Walters (cameo)
• Prunella Deegan (cameo)
• Jenna Morgan (cameo)
• Alex (cameo)
• George Lundgren (cameo)

Trivia

• Moral:
  • Dont overreact for your own benefits.
  • Dont tell a secret for your own benefits.
  • Dont make up stuff for your own benefits.

Episode connections

• The green-tailed grebe was previously mentioned in "Elwood City Turns 100!".

Errors

• When Brain is shown recording the bird's call, he only records about a second of the call before accidentally changing the channel on his radio. However, when he plays the tape to attract the bird, the bird call sounds for considerably longer before the channel change occurs.
• Some sources incorrectly list this episode as paired with I Owe You One. PBS Kids once took this mistake further and put both these episodes on the Video App as separate videos

Gallery

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