科学美国人60秒 猎鹰在果园巡逻寻找讨厌的入侵鸟类（在线收听）

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 wreaking havoc.

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 naturalists 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 killing 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 wrangler. 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 falcon.

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 robins, 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 prey 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 genetically 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 taloned 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。