Birdbrains by Thom Bluemel for September 20, 2019

Those go right through me. Last time I tried one of those, I nailed 15 people in the park before I could make it to a statue.

I eat about a pound of fresh jalapenos a week. One chopped up in my breakfast eggs each morning and another in my 9am nachos.

That’s 14 a week unless they are small peppers then more.

Funny how different people have different tastes

I can’t stand even one mild jalapeno, but I love horseradish, wasabi, and hot mustard

Eh eh eh , you have NO idea how evil and sadistic I really AM! Here, try one…..

Aw, that’s nice! Birds aren’t affected by capsaicin at all — for a good reason! Birds can eat the hot stuff all day long and then spread the seeds far and wide as they fly (hope I don’t need to go into detail as to HOW they disperse them….) Mammals, which tend to stay a little closer to their feeding grounds, are sensitive to capsaicin and mostly avoid it.

So, hot pepper plants make a chemical that allows their seeds to grow in a much larger area than would happen if they simply fell on the ground, or were “dispersed” by the local mammals. Who knew PLANTS had a reproductive strategy?! ;-)

This reminds me I need to get out to the garden and harvest some.

I, too, grow a bunch of peppers. What I don’t use for the heat, I pickle and enjoy them that way.

Not so sadistic, they could have Carolina reapers.

Let’s turn to Tom Lehrer.. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yhuMLpdnOjY

That’s a devilish smirk, is it not?

My finches absolutely love any kind of pepper I have to offer. The heat that we mammals experience from capsaicin is nonexistent to them. A much better sadistic offering might be some avocados. They contain persin, which can be highly toxic to birds.