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Just put out some wasabi coated peanuts... and have a good laugh when you see them with their open beaks trying to relieve the spiciness and cool down their mou

Just put out some wasabi coated peanuts... and have a good laugh when you see them with their open beaks trying to relieve the spiciness and cool down their mouths :DDDD. And... they come back for more. Maybe they enjoy the ride.

lostlogin 4y ago
And for extra laughs you can just poison them. Please don’t torment animals.
- eyelidlessness 4y ago
  I agree with your reaction. But for thoroughness, I accidentally left out a few cups of salsa a few years ago, intended for compost and I forgot to come back to them for a while, which attracted crows. I felt really awful that I might have left them something which could make them sick. Gratefully it was highly unlikely, as other comments mention they don’t react to capsaicin the way we do. They’re still interested in leftovers and and general perceived offerings, so don’t leave stuff that you’re not certain are harmless. But spicy-to-you probably isn’t actually a torment. And crows are smart. They just flew high enough to drop the accidental offerings on the ground and lose interest. Anyway definitely don’t poison animals, but it’s also good to know when or whether you’re actually taking that risk.
- lofaszvanitt 4y ago
  Poison birds that are neck deep in the trashcan fishing for leftover food?
- thweoriu23234 4y ago
  Unless of course you blind them and stuff them with liquor, or keep them in bird cages unable to move. Then it's a-okay. Just please keep torture away from human eyes so that we can gore on the output of animal cruelty, guilt-free.
jbotz 4y ago
I don't know about wasabi, but birds in general are completely immune to capsaicin, the substance that makes hot peppers hot. I grow a variety of hot peppers here in Brazil and the sabiá (a Brazilian songbird) particularly likes the pimenta malagueta, a little chili equivalent to the ones used in Thai food... I've seen a single bird consume like 50 of these small and very hot peppers in 10 minutes.
- flak48 4y ago
  > little chili equivalent to the ones used in Thai food Birds-eye chillies, you mean?
  - hadlock 4y ago
    Bonnie's Plants and others sell them as "Thai Hot Chilies" the colloqueal name for this particular subspecies varies wildly by region. I've also seen "thai pepper". Generally referring to long thin, thin-walled peppers full of seeds. I've never (personally) seen "birds-eye chilie" used in the wild.
    - c_o_n_v_e_x 4y ago
      In Singapore and Malaysia, they’re called chilli padi
- roughly 4y ago
  There's actually an interesting reason for this! Capsaicin evolved primarily* to keep mammals from eating pepper seeds, since mammalian digestive systems destroy the seeds, but birds' systems do not. Birds use a different protein complex for detecting heat than mammals, so capsaicin binds to the mammalian protein complex and activates it, but does not bind to the avian complex. * excuse the short hand anthropomorphizing of evolution here - I know.
  - lofaszvanitt 4y ago
    Good to know, thanks.

lostlogin 4y ago

And for extra laughs you can just poison them. Please don’t torment animals.

eyelidlessness 4y ago
I agree with your reaction. But for thoroughness, I accidentally left out a few cups of salsa a few years ago, intended for compost and I forgot to come back to them for a while, which attracted crows. I felt really awful that I might have left them something which could make them sick. Gratefully it was highly unlikely, as other comments mention they don’t react to capsaicin the way we do. They’re still interested in leftovers and and general perceived offerings, so don’t leave stuff that you’re not certain are harmless. But spicy-to-you probably isn’t actually a torment. And crows are smart. They just flew high enough to drop the accidental offerings on the ground and lose interest. Anyway definitely don’t poison animals, but it’s also good to know when or whether you’re actually taking that risk.
lofaszvanitt 4y ago
Poison birds that are neck deep in the trashcan fishing for leftover food?
thweoriu23234 4y ago
Unless of course you blind them and stuff them with liquor, or keep them in bird cages unable to move. Then it's a-okay. Just please keep torture away from human eyes so that we can gore on the output of animal cruelty, guilt-free.

jbotz 4y ago

I don't know about wasabi, but birds in general are completely immune to capsaicin, the substance that makes hot peppers hot. I grow a variety of hot peppers here in Brazil and the sabiá (a Brazilian songbird) particularly likes the pimenta malagueta, a little chili equivalent to the ones used in Thai food... I've seen a single bird consume like 50 of these small and very hot peppers in 10 minutes.

flak48 4y ago
> little chili equivalent to the ones used in Thai food Birds-eye chillies, you mean?
- hadlock 4y ago
  Bonnie's Plants and others sell them as "Thai Hot Chilies" the colloqueal name for this particular subspecies varies wildly by region. I've also seen "thai pepper". Generally referring to long thin, thin-walled peppers full of seeds. I've never (personally) seen "birds-eye chilie" used in the wild.
  - c_o_n_v_e_x 4y ago
    In Singapore and Malaysia, they’re called chilli padi
roughly 4y ago
There's actually an interesting reason for this! Capsaicin evolved primarily* to keep mammals from eating pepper seeds, since mammalian digestive systems destroy the seeds, but birds' systems do not. Birds use a different protein complex for detecting heat than mammals, so capsaicin binds to the mammalian protein complex and activates it, but does not bind to the avian complex. * excuse the short hand anthropomorphizing of evolution here - I know.
- lofaszvanitt 4y ago
  Good to know, thanks.