科学美国人60秒 猎鹰在果园巡逻寻找讨厌的入侵鸟类

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Washington state is the country’s largest producer of cherries and blueberries. The state’s wine industry is second only to California’s in value. But one non-native, nuisance bird is wreaking¹ havoc².

华盛顿是生产樱桃和蓝莓最多的州。该州的酿酒工业市值位于第二位，次于加利福尼亚州。但是，不是本地、一种令人讨厌的鸟却在搞大破坏。

The European starling was brought to North America more than a century ago, by unwitting naturalists³ who wanted to introduce all the birds mentioned in Shakespeare’s plays. Today, the starlings do hundreds of millions of dollars’ worth of damage to Washington’s crops. But one man has taken it upon himself to get rid of the birds—without killing⁴ them.

这种欧洲八哥在一个世纪以前由被不知情的自然法学家引入了北美，这些自然法学家想要引入莎士比亚戏剧中多提到的所有的鸟类。现在，这种鸟类对导致华盛顿的作物损失达数亿美元。但是现在有人在摆脱鸟类对作物的损害——而不将鸟类杀死。

“We’re not terminators. Our job description would be more like security guards.”

我们并不是终结者，我们的职责更像是保安。

Vahé Alaverdian, raptor wrangler⁵. It’s barely 6 A.M., but he’s been out in a field of cherry trees in Yakima Valley since much earlier. He’s working with a Peregrine falcon⁶.

Vahé Alaverdian是一位猛禽牧人。现在是早上六点，但是他早已经到了雅吉玛谷的樱桃树田地里。他正在利用游隼

And as long as the falcon flies over these fields, fruit-loving birds like robins⁷, finches and starlings will not. Fourth-generation fruit grower Mark Roy estimates Alaverdian’s raptors save him a thousand dollars a day in otherwise lost produce.

只要游隼在这些领域的上空盘旋，那么知更鸟,雀和椋鸟等喜爱水果的鸟类就不会出现在这里。马克?罗伊是第四代果农，他估计Alaverdian这种猛禽每天能让他少损失一千美元。

“So, I mean it pays to come and to scare the birds away.”

我付钱来让他负责把那些鸟类吓跑。

Birds of prey⁸ work where other traditional methods of bird abatement—like scarecrows, pyrotechnics and netting—fail. Alaverdian says even the most modern technology is no match for problem birds like starlings.

猛禽工作的领域在于那些传统的驱逐鸟的方法——如稻草人、烟火以及鸟网——无效的地方。Alaverdian表示，即使最先进的方法也无法解决椋鸟的问题。

“People said ‘oh, we’re going to put you out of business. We’ve got drones, we’re going to program these drones and then we’ll fly them over blueberries.’ And then what?”

人们说，我们可以取代这种做法。我们有无人驾驶飞机。我们可以设定无人驾驶机程序，然后在蓝莓树的上空盘旋。可是这种结果又能怎样呢?

Eventually, he says, starlings get used to the drones.

最终，椋鸟会就慢慢习惯了无人驾驶机。

“It’s just not something they’re genetically⁹ programmed to avoid. It’s good for 48 hours and then you need another tool.”

因为这并不是椋鸟生来就害怕而躲避的事物。可能这种方法仅仅有效两天，之后你就要变换另一种工具了。

Modern tools can decrease fruit damage to thirty percent, but Alaverdian says one client at a Vineyard in California has seen falconry bring that down to between five and seven percent.

现代工具可以将水果的损害率降低到30%，但是Alaverdia表示，加州一位葡萄庄园的客户表示，放鹰捕猎这种方法可以将损害率降低到5%-7%.

It’s a tried and true taloned¹⁰ tool, that protects even the lowest hanging fruit.

这是一个久经考验的方法，甚至可以保护悬挂在最下面的果实。

1 wreaking   

诉诸（武力），施行（暴力），发（脾气）( wreak的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• Coal mining is a messy business, often wreaking terrible environmental damage nearby. 采矿是肮脏的行业，往往会严重破坏周边环境。
• The floods are wreaking havoc in low-lying areas. 洪水正在地势低洼地区肆虐。

2 havoc   

n.大破坏，浩劫，大混乱，大杂乱

参考例句：

• The earthquake wreaked havoc on the city.地震对这个城市造成了大破坏。
• This concentration of airborne firepower wrought havoc with the enemy forces.这次机载火力的集中攻击给敌军造成很大破坏。

3 naturalists   

n.博物学家( naturalist的名词复数 )；（文学艺术的）自然主义者

参考例句：

• Naturalists differ much in determining what characters are of generic value. 自然学者对于不同性状决定生物的属的含义上，各有各的见解。 来自辞典例句
• This fact has led naturalists to believe that the Isthmus was formerly open. 使许多自然学者相信这个地蛱在以前原是开通的。 来自辞典例句

4 killing   

n.巨额利润；突然赚大钱，发大财

参考例句：

• Investors are set to make a killing from the sell-off.投资者准备清仓以便大赚一笔。
• Last week my brother made a killing on Wall Street.上个周我兄弟在华尔街赚了一大笔。

5 wrangler   

n.口角者，争论者；牧马者

参考例句：

• When the strangled wrangler dangles the mangled spangles on the bangle jangle.被绞死的辩论者晃荡时，手镯上撕碎的小金属片发出刺耳的声音。
• A wrangler is a cowboy who works with cattle and horses.牧马者是放牧牛马的牛仔。

6 falcon   

n.隼，猎鹰

参考例句：

• The falcon was twice his size with pouted feathers.鹰张开羽毛比两只鹰还大。
• The boys went hunting with their falcon.男孩子们带着猎鹰出去打猎了。

7 robins   

n.知更鸟，鸫( robin的名词复数 )；（签名者不分先后，以避免受责的）圆形签名抗议书（或请愿书）

参考例句：

• The robins occupied their former nest. 那些知更鸟占了它们的老窝。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
• Benjamin Robins then entered the fray with articles and a book. 而后，Benjamin Robins以他的几篇专论和一本书参加争论。 来自辞典例句

8 prey   

n.被掠食者，牺牲者，掠食；v.捕食，掠夺，折磨

参考例句：

• Stronger animals prey on weaker ones.弱肉强食。
• The lion was hunting for its prey.狮子在寻找猎物。

9 genetically   

adv.遗传上

参考例句：

• All the bees in the colony are genetically related. 同一群体的蜜蜂都有亲缘关系。
• Genetically modified foods have already arrived on American dinner tables. 经基因改造加工过的食物已端上了美国人的餐桌。 来自英汉非文学 - 生命科学 - 基因与食物

10 taloned   

参考例句：

• Taloned hands grabbed both his wrists, sudden and vice like, searing pain shot up his arms. 突然，有爪子似的东西抓住了他的手腕，抓得很紧，像钳子似的，一阵剧痛传到了他的胳膊。 来自互联网