Keeping birds away from windows

Concern:  Here’s the deal, the windows on the front of the house are practically mirrors, and apparently a magnet for birds who see their reflection and thus fly at and peck the windows…

The blue-gray tanagers in the area somewhat chill, they just land and peck at the windows, however, superciliated wrens don’t play around and it seems like they almost “attack” the windows.

I’ve read a lot of info from western bird resources that suggest applying decals, ect. to the window in the form of predators (raptors) but I’ve read reports this does little to alleviate the issue…

Do you know of any effective techniques for deterring birds from attacking the windows? 

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Bioluminescence/Fluorescence (plants)

Question: Are there any naturally fluorescent plants?

Comment: Do you mean bioluminescence (glow in the dark) maybe instead of fluorescence (emit a different color when exposed to a certain wavelength of light)? I think all plants fluoresce - chlorophyll was already mentioned as a fluorescent molecule, and there are many phenolics and secondary metabolites in plants that fluoresce as well. I think pretty much everyone who has ever done fluorescence microscopy on plant samples knows about the issues with background noise that can be caused by this autofluorescence when trying to observe a genetically introduced molecule such as green or red fluorescent proteins.

However, when it comes to bioluminescence such as the glow of a firefly or the light emitted by some deep sea creatures, I am not aware of any plants that can do that unless genetically engineered by introducing the luciferin gene and provided with the appropriate substrate. The only “plant-like” organisms that I can think of that do that are some algae, specifically dinoflagellates, which aren’t even in the kingdom Plantae. They make ocean water glow in the dark when swirled up.

Comment: chlorophyll fluoresces red under UV light. so i would think most plants are fluorescent to some degree.

Comment: Other than induced fluorescence I don’t know of any examples of naturally fluorescing plants.

Fungi, on the other hand, have a number of species that naturally glow. Of course, those aren’t plants, but at least they’re not animals.

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Parasitic plants

Orobanche, commonly known as broomrape, is a genus of over 200 species of small parasitic herbaceous plants, mostly native to the temperate Northern Hemisphere. It is the type genus of the broomrape family Orobanchaceae.

As they have no chlorophyll, the broomrapes are totally dependent on other plants for nutrients. Broomrape seeds remain dormant in the soil, often for many years, until stimulated to germinate by certain compounds produced by living plant roots.

Orobanche ramosa

Branched broomrape Orobanche ramosa, native to central and southwestern Europe but widely naturalized elsewhere, is considered a major threat to crops in some areas. Plants that it targets are tomato, eggplant, potato, cabbage, coleus, bell pepper, sunflower, celery, and beans. In heavily infested areas, branched broomrape can cause total crop failure.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orobanche

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2022 Russian businessmen mystery deaths

It's hard to know what to believe regarding anything anymore.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2022_Russian_businessmen_mystery_deaths

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How mammals won...

The asteroid that ended the Cretaceous took with it famous dinosaurs like Tyrannosaurus and Triceratops, as well as lesser-known but bizarre creatures like Anzu, or the "chicken from hell". There were duck-billed dinosaurs, long-necked dinosaurs, dinosaurs with armour all over their bodies – and, very quickly, all of them were dead.

In the shadow of these kings and queens of the Late Cretaceous, mammals like Purgatorius were small and scrappy, many of them filling the kinds of ecological niches today occupied by rodents. How was it that this miscellaneous group of seemingly vulnerable creatures – including our ancestors – survived doomsday?

Read rest of article here:

https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20220812-dinosaur-extinction-why-did-mammals-survive

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Bill Watterson

Bill Watterson: “A comic strip only takes a second to read, but over the years it creates a surprisingly deep connection with readers. Seeing a strip every day is a fun ritual, and they feel connected to it. Even in a few panels you can develop characters and express an outlook on life as the months go by, and before you know it, readers are seriously invested in the world you’ve created. That incremental aspect, that unpretentious daily-ness of comics is a surprising source of power. Readers do form an emotional bond with your strip.”

What do you think? 

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Banksy

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