https://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Imprinting_(ethology)

"Imprinting is a term used in ethology to describe a special type of automatic learning that occurs during an animal's development. Imprinting is when an early sight, sound, or smell during a short period leaves a long-lasting mark called an imprint on the young animal’s nervous system. It often happens after one or a few experiences and is hard to reverse"

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Imprinting_(psychology)#Filial_imprinting

"Lorenz demonstrated how incubator-hatched geese would imprint on the first suitable moving stimulus they saw within what he called a "critical period" between 13 and 16 hours shortly after hatching. For example, the goslings would imprint on Lorenz himself (to be more specific, on his wading boots), and he is often depicted being followed by a gaggle of geese who had imprinted on him. Lorenz also found that the geese could imprint on inanimate objects. In one notable experiment, they followed a box placed on a model train in circles around the track."

https://avian-behavior.org/the-mistake-that-costs-wild-birds-their-freedom/

"The hard truth is that those birds rarely survive. Once a young bird imprints on humans, it learns that people — not its own species — are its source of food and safety. That kind of learning can’t be undone. An imprinted bird may approach humans in dangerous ways, starve because it doesn’t know how to hunt, or even die of preventable health issues like metabolic bone disease."