A Question For The Lone Ranger

[The Lone Ranger]

With a few noteworthy exceptions, birds appear to have virtually no sense of smell. This may help explain why crows readily feed on dead skunks and why Great Horned Owls prey upon live skunks -- neither is bothered by the scent.


One of the few bird species that does have a well-developed sense of smell is the Turkey Vulture. Natural gas companies actually use this to their advantage on occasion.

Natural gas is, to humans anyway, odorless. So sulfur compounds are often added to give it an odor and help us to detect gas leaks. Some of these same compounds are given off by rotting flesh and act as attractants to Turkey Vultures. (But not to Black Vultures; like most birds, Black Vultures have virtually no sense of smell and so search for carrion by sight.)

Gas companies sometimes actually use circling vultures to detect leaks from gas lines.

[Dingfod]

I have seen dogs that were unaffected by skunks, and they're usually the ones that kill them too. But, most dogs, when sprayed by skunks don't like it much at all. The powerful scent probably messes up their sense of smell, which they are pretty reliant on.

[Ari]

That's a common misconception, while it can happen with certain compounds, for the most part scent based animals are rarely overwhelmed to the point of their scent short circuiting. Mostly we know this from the many failed attempts at using strong scents to cover the smell of drugs.

[thedoc]

I would suggest that the spray gets in the eye and is quite an irritant there, just as I am on this forum.

[thedoc]

Originally Posted by thedoc

We don't live near a swampy area, and many years ago my daughter thought she was observing a Peregrine Falcon nesting, but it turned out to be the nest of a Coopers Hawk as identified by a person from the Game Commission, who came out on the suggestion that it might be a Peregrine Falcon. He identified it from the debris on the ground under the nest saying that Coopers tend to be messy with their nest making. The assumption is that if there were Coopers around before, they might be around again.

I spotted a hawk again and it might have been the same one. The first indication was when I looked out the window and saw a squirrel flat against a tree trunk not moving at all. I figured there must be a hawk somewhere close by, and a bit later I spotted the hawk perched on the top of a tree looking around, but before I could get the camera, it flew away.

[JoeP]

Dear The Lone Ranger:
Does this ring any bells?

[SR71]

This is really more in the vein of agriculture than biology, but here we go anyway.

Last December, the weather stayed warm for a considerable period, and some ornamental flowering fruits blossomed. I understand that this isn't very unusual, especially since these trees were in the Delaware/Maryland area, so not terribly far north. Well, as I was driving home about that time, the warm weather and premature winter flowering were discussed on NPR. One of the guests said that it doesn't hurt the tree, and that the tree would still bloom in the spring. I was in agreement that the tree would be fine, but skeptical that the tree would bloom again in spring, since it would presumably be too dormant for the rest of winter to set more flower buds.

Turns out I was right about not flowering again, save a few stragglers here and there that didn't already blossom in winter.

The question is, does it often happen in more southerly orchards that the trees flower in winter and the following year's crop is reduced? Thinking of the famous Georgia peaches, for example.

[BrotherMan]

Not a question. I saw this somewhere and was floored by how striking it is. I've never seen anything like it. I thought you'd want to see it and marvel too. I mean, any mantid is already pretty darn fascinating. I had no clue they could get this big.

A Giant Devils Flower Praying Mantis

[JoeP]

Its natural diet includes LSD.

[Crumb]

Get it off! get it off!

[thedoc]

Originally Posted by BrotherMan

Not a question. I saw this somewhere and was floored by how striking it is. I've never seen anything like it. I thought you'd want to see it and marvel too. I mean, any mantid is already pretty darn fascinating. I had no clue they could get this big.

A Giant Devils Flower Praying Mantis

My son found a Mantis on a tree in his backyard, and when he held his hand in front of it, it crawled onto his hand. I believe he called it a Japanese Mantis. It was interesting to watch the insect moving it's head to look at us in turn, as if trying to decide what we were. I'm pretty sure it know that we were not on the menu. It was just slightly smaller than the more common Praying Mantis.

[thedoc]

A couple years ago there was a male Robin attacking it's reflection in our windows. There is another bird doing the same now, but it's all slate grey with slightly darker tail feathers. Does anyone have any suggestions on how to scare the bird away from the windows? I tried hanging a string with different objects hanging from it on the outside of the window, the Robin just flew past it and went for the reflection. I also taped printed images of hawks on the inside of the window, they had no effect.

[Angakuk]

I am guessing though that the printed images of hawks are keeping printed images of other birds away quite effectively.

[thedoc]

Originally Posted by Angakuk

I am guessing though that the printed images of hawks are keeping printed images of other birds away quite effectively.

I think you're right, I haven't seen any printed images of any bird attacking my windows.

[The Lone Ranger]

Originally Posted by SR71

This is really more in the vein of agriculture than biology, but here we go anyway.

Last December, the weather stayed warm for a considerable period, and some ornamental flowering fruits blossomed. I understand that this isn't very unusual, especially since these trees were in the Delaware/Maryland area, so not terribly far north. Well, as I was driving home about that time, the warm weather and premature winter flowering were discussed on NPR. One of the guests said that it doesn't hurt the tree, and that the tree would still bloom in the spring. I was in agreement that the tree would be fine, but skeptical that the tree would bloom again in spring, since it would presumably be too dormant for the rest of winter to set more flower buds.

Turns out I was right about not flowering again, save a few stragglers here and there that didn't already blossom in winter.

The question is, does it often happen in more southerly orchards that the trees flower in winter and the following year's crop is reduced? Thinking of the famous Georgia peaches, for example.

As opposed to orchards in more Northern areas, for instance? I'm not sure if it's more or less likely. Certainly, an unexpected warm spell during the Winter (or early Spring further North) can cause fruit trees to flower, only for the weather to drop back below freezing, killing most of the years' flower buds.

The reverse also happens as well, of course -- that is, it will sometimes happen that there will be unusually late cold snap that kills flower buds and so reduces the year's crop.

I don't have any numbers, but if we're talking about places like, say, Georgia or Florida, where Winter temperatures rarely get below freezing in the first place, I'd say that unexpected cold snaps are more of a danger than are unexpected warm spells. If you're in Georgia and the flowers start to come out normally, then there's an unusual cold snap, you may lose a good percentage of the year's fruit crop. This seems to happen practically every other year in parts of Georgia, by my completely off-the-top-of-my-head estimation.

By contrast, fruit trees in the North are generally bred to "expect" a warm spell or two before it finally gets warm-enough (and reliably warm-enough) for them to start blooming. For example, I've seen February temperatures into the 60s and 70s in Michigan, but that usually doesn't trigger the fruit trees to start blooming; if they did, their blossoms would almost-certainly be killed when the temperatures reverted to normal for the time and place.


That's not to say that it doesn't happen. A few years ago, there was a prolonged warm spell in Michigan, and daytime temperatures got up into the 80s. In March. Almost all the apple trees and cherry trees began to bloom, and then, when the temperatures dropped back to normal, almost all the flower buds were killed. If I recall correctly, Michigan lost more than 90% of its apple crop that year.



Still, I'd guesstimate that unexpected cold spells are more of a problem in the South than are unexpected warm spells in the North. Most trees -- especially in colder climates -- are "hardened" to flower only after several weeks of prolonged warm temperatures. But if it happens at the right time, it takes only one night of significantly-below-freezing temperatures to destroy practically an entire season's crop.


That's not to say that late freezes don't occur in the North as well. But since that's not so unusual, Northern farmers typically grow commercial varieties that are significantly more cold-tolerant than are varieties that are more-often grown in the South.

[The Lone Ranger]

Originally Posted by BrotherMan

Not a question. I saw this somewhere and was floored by how striking it is. I've never seen anything like it. I thought you'd want to see it and marvel too. I mean, any mantid is already pretty darn fascinating. I had no clue they could get this big.

A Giant Devils Flower Praying Mantis

Is that not just the neatest thing ever?

[The Lone Ranger]

Originally Posted by thedoc

A couple years ago there was a male Robin attacking it's reflection in our windows. There is another bird doing the same now, but it's all slate grey with slightly darker tail feathers. Does anyone have any suggestions on how to scare the bird away from the windows? I tried hanging a string with different objects hanging from it on the outside of the window, the Robin just flew past it and went for the reflection. I also taped printed images of hawks on the inside of the window, they had no effect.

Yeah, that can be a problem during the breeding season. He'll probably become a lot less territorial after the breeding season, and the problem will (temporarily) take care of itself.

The problem, of course, is due to the highly reflective glass in many windows. Some places (especially building located along bird flyways) use low-reflection glass in part specifically to prevent bird strikes and/or birds from mistaking their reflections for competitors. Some companies make "bird safe" glass that has very low reflectivity in visible light but very high reflectivity in ultraviolet (many birds can see well into the ultraviolet part of the spectrum); since it reflects UV light, birds can see it and so won't fly into it, but since it doesn't reflect "visible" light well, birds are unlikely to see their reflections in it. But I doubt you'd want to replace your windows.

Some products, like "Collidescape" are specifically designed to reduce the reflectivity of windows, discouraging birds from either flying into them (it's thought that a big reason birds often fly into highly reflective windows is because they see the sky reflected in the window and don't realize there's glass there) or getting into territorial disputes with their reflections.

Some people use "Sun Shields " of various sorts for similar purposes.



Though you commonly see hawk silhouettes stuck to windows as bird deterrents, they don't really work very well. A motionless picture or silhouette doesn't seem to be of much deterrent value. On the other hand, silhouettes that reflect well in the UV range do seem to have some value -- evidently, size and high UV reflectivity matter more than whether or not it really looks like a hawk.



WindowAlert decals, for example, are designed to be highly reflective in UV, and so are good for preventing birds from flying into your windows, but they might not be so effective at preventing territorial behavior.



If you can get your hands on a realistic-looking rubber snake or a realistic-looking plastic owl, those are often used to scare away birds. The problem is that if it isn't moved fairly often, the birds seem to catch on pretty quickly.



In all likelihood, the only more or less permanent solution is to, one way or another, reduce the window's reflectivity in the visible light part of the spectrum, so that territorial males can't see their reflections.



Hopefully, that's of at least some help!

[thedoc]

Originally Posted by The Lone Ranger

Yeah, that can be a problem during the breeding season. He'll probably become a lot less territorial after the breeding season, and the problem will (temporarily) take care of itself.

The problem, of course, is due to the highly reflective glass in many windows. Some places (especially building located along bird flyways) use low-reflection glass in part specifically to prevent bird strikes and/or birds from mistaking their reflections for competitors. Some companies make "bird safe" glass that has very low reflectivity in visible light but very high reflectivity in ultraviolet (many birds can see well into the ultraviolet part of the spectrum); since it reflects UV light, birds can see it and so won't fly into it, but since it doesn't reflect "visible" light well, birds are unlikely to see their reflections in it. But I doubt you'd want to replace your windows.

Some products, like "Collidescape" are specifically designed to reduce the reflectivity of windows, discouraging birds from either flying into them (it's thought that a big reason birds often fly into highly reflective windows is because they see the sky reflected in the window and don't realize there's glass there) or getting into territorial disputes with their reflections.

Some people use "Sun Shields " of various sorts for similar purposes.

Though you commonly see hawk silhouettes stuck to windows as bird deterrents, they don't really work very well. A motionless picture or silhouette doesn't seem to be of much deterrent value. On the other hand, silhouettes that reflect well in the UV range do seem to have some value -- evidently, size and high UV reflectivity matter more than whether or not it really looks like a hawk.

WindowAlert decals, for example, are designed to be highly reflective in UV, and so are good for preventing birds from flying into your windows, but they might not be so effective at preventing territorial behavior.

If you can get your hands on a realistic-looking rubber snake or a realistic-looking plastic owl, those are often used to scare away birds. The problem is that if it isn't moved fairly often, the birds seem to catch on pretty quickly.

In all likelihood, the only more or less permanent solution is to, one way or another, reduce the window's reflectivity in the visible light part of the spectrum, so that territorial males can't see their reflections.

Hopefully, that's of at least some help!

Thankyou, those are all good recommendations but we have a lot of windows. When we had our new house built we decided to include a lot of windows, and all the outside corners (6 of them) were on a 45 degree angle. Perhaps this will give you an idea of what I mean.

Picasa Web Albums - Nat Smith - House

Photos 3, 4, 5, show the windows in the living room and the library above. We have 2 spare bedrooms and the master bed room with the same arrangement, and the master bath is the same but with shorter windows. On the first floor we have 24 windows including 2 in doors but not including 2 small ones on either side of the main door. Add to that the 6 windows in the library, with the living room being open to the library above it. It is very bright in the living room, even on a cloudy day, makes napping difficult, if you're used to sleeping in the dark.

I should add that the windows in the living room and the library are 2 and 3 stories off the ground, with nothing under them except the ground, makes it a bit difficult to get to.

[JoeP]

Dear Lone Ranger,

Is there anything The Lone Ranger doesn't know? Enquiring minds wonder.

[Megatron]

Dude, that's old hat.

I posted that shit 4 years ago.

e: and 4 years later I still haven't found something he doesn't know.

But I'll find it. It's gotta be out there somewhere. It's like that pot of gold at the end of the rainbow - the one thing TLR doesn't know. Like some mythic object sought after by archaeologists in adventure movies and protagonists in video games, it might just be a macguffin but it's gotta be out there somewhere.

I'll find it.

[BrotherMan]

[slimshady2357]

Is this for real? While it is totally fascinating I may never eat a fig again

Mind. Blown. pic.twitter.com/absTwPnq6G

— illy (@The_Illest) 19 September 2016

[ceptimus]

Disclaimer: IANTLR

That all looks pretty familiar. I've read some detailed writing about figs and fig wasps in one of Richard Dawkin's books - maybe more than one.

Figs and fig wasps are definitely weird. Adactylidium have an arguably even weirder (though in some ways similar) life cycle, but they do it inside their mother instead of inside a fig - so we don't have the same 'yuck' factor as we don't eat Adactytlidium like we eat figs.

The Adactylidium go through their weird life cycles while eating a single thrips egg, so I suppose the thrips find the Adactylidium even more repulsive than you find fig wasps.

Next time you eat a fig though, remember that most figs depend on the fig wasps for their survival - so even though it seems a yucky process, without it you wouldn't have any figs to eat!

[slimshady2357]

Originally Posted by ceptimus

Disclaimer: IANTLR

That all looks pretty familiar. I've read some detailed writing about figs and fig wasps in one of Richard Dawkin's books - maybe more than one.

Figs and fig wasps are definitely weird. Adactylidium have an arguably even weirder (though in some ways similar) life cycle, but they do it inside their mother instead of inside a fig - so we don't have the same 'yuck' factor as we don't eat Adactytlidium like we eat figs.

The Adactylidium go through their weird life cycles while eating a single thrips egg, so I suppose the thrips find the Adactylidium even more repulsive than you find fig wasps.

Next time you eat a fig though, remember that most figs depend on the fig wasps for their survival - so even though it seems a yucky process, without you wouldn't have any figs to eat!

Without them I don't have figs to eat, but with them I don't want to eat any figs!

I shall have to try to forget about this as Sou makes an amazing brownie using figs, cocoa powder, maple syrup and pecans.

[The Lone Ranger]

Oh, it's real, alright. If you don't mind seedless figs that don't actually taste like figs, you can get "wasp-free" versions, though.