Bird seed

If we can t repel bears with capsaicin, then we can use it to send squirrels scurrying. They hate hot peppers, but, to the great annoyance of bird fanciers, they love bird seed. Birds have no receptors for capsaicin and are therefore immune to its effects, so why not treat bird seed with capsaicin to keep the rodents away Such products are actually being developed under the Squirrel Free brand, and they are pretty hot. You need a hit of about twenty thousand Scoville units to get squirrels to hightail it, and this requires about thirty dried habaneros per pound of bird seed. 

A few vertebrate animals can be pests in some situations. Some, such as birds, rodents, raccoons, or deer, may eat or injure agricultural and ornamental crops. Birds and mammals may eat newly planted seed. Birds and rodents consume stored food and often contaminate and ruin even more than they eat. Birds and mammds which prey on livestock and poultry cause costly losses to rancters each year. Large numbers of roosting birds can soil populated areas. 

Anthrahydroquinones have been patented in Japan as bird repeUents (73), and anthraquinone [84-65-1] (qv) is used widely in Europe as a spray to protect growing crops and as a wood dressing. The synthetic pyrethroid deltamethrin [52918-63-5] (27) was evaluated (74), as were other materials, including bendiocarb (20) (75) and 20,25-dia2ocholesterol dihydrochloride [1249-84-9] (Omitrol) (28), a steroid that inhibits embryo development when adsorbed or ingested as a seed treatment of bait com (55,76). 

Kanarien-hirse, /. canary seed. -holz, n. canary wood, -samen, m. canary seed, -vogel, m. canary bird, canary. 

It is not normally necessary to seed waterbodies with fish. Fish will be introduced by natural means (e.g. by aquatic bird life). 

Capsaicin is what makes chili peppers hot. It is an irritant, for mammals, but not for birds. This may be because birds spread the seeds better than mammals. It causes a burning sensation in any mammalian tissue with which it comes in contact. 

Fuchs, P. (1967). Death of birds caused by application of seed dressings in the Netherlands. Mededel Rijksfacultait Landbouwweetenschappen Gent 31, 855-859. 

Turtle, E.E., Taylor, A., and Wright, E.N. et al. (1963). The effects on birds of certain chlorinated insecticides used as seed dressings. Journal of the Science of Food and Agriculture 14, 567-577. 

The carotenoids are the most widespread group of pigments in nature, with an estimated yield of 100 million tonnes per annum. They are present in all photosynthetic organisms and responsible for most of the yellow to red colours of fruits and flowers. The characteristic colours of many birds, insects and marine invertebrates are also due to the presence of carotenoids, which have originated in the diet. Animals are unable to synthesise carotenoids de novo, and so rely upon the diet as the source of these compounds. Carotenoids found in the human diet are primarily derived from crop plants, where the carotenoids are located in roots, leaves, shoots, seeds, fruit and flowers. To a lesser extent, carotenoids are also ingested from eggs, poultry and fish. Commercially, carotenoids are used as food colourants and in nutritional supplements (Table 13.1). Over recent years there has been considerable... 

The leachates did not affect total percent germination of rape and birds foot trefoil seeds (Table I), and all trefoil seedlings had... 

Elderberries provide food for birds, bears, chipmunks, elk, moose, deer, foxes, rabbits, squirrels and woodchucks. Linnaeus said the berries were not good food for chickens and turkeys and might even be toxic to them. The fact that many wild animals relish the elderberries helps to proliferate this wonderful shrub, as the elder seeds are fertilized by animal droppings. 

No. 8 shot and held at 5 or 22°C and fed commercial pelleted ration or mixed seed Tissue lead residues were higher in Pb-dosed birds. Doves on the pelleted diet retained shot longer and eroded more lead than did doves on the mixed seed diet. Temperature had no measurable effect on lead residues 59... 

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