在萬圣節(jié)前夕，夜里冷不丁看見稻草人還真能把人嚇一跳。其實，稻草人的“工作”是驅(qū)趕鳥類，那么稻草人的驅(qū)鳥效果如何？它真的能把鳥嚇走嗎？

Every Halloween, scarecrows become standard lawn decor. Trick-or-treaters might find them frightening, but what about the birds that these effigies are supposed to repel?

每年萬圣節(jié)，稻草人都是草地上的標配裝飾物。不給糖就搗蛋的小孩可能會被稻草人嚇到，但其實稻草人的作用本來是驅(qū)趕鳥類，它們真的能把鳥嚇走嗎？

Apparently, some avians dislike them more than others. A series of tests conducted in 1980 found that small ponds near where a scarecrow was planted saw a 95 percent drop in visits by local ducks. On the other hand, certain species don’t seem to notice them. During the 1930s, wildlife scientist K.R. Lagler sent one scarecrow adrift on a floating buoy at a West Virginia fish hatchery. While most birds steered clear of the thing, he noted that it failed to deter kingfishers.

顯然，有些鳥真的不喜歡稻草人。1980年開展的一系列測試發(fā)現(xiàn)，附近安插了稻草人的小池塘在當?shù)匚镍喿訑?shù)量減少了95%。與此同時，某些鳥類似乎注意不到稻草人。上世紀30年代，野生動物科學家K·R·拉格勒在美國西弗吉尼亞州的一個魚苗孵化場中把稻草人放在浮標上漂流。盡管多數(shù)鳥兒都會避開稻草人，但是拉格勒發(fā)現(xiàn)，稻草人對翠鳥沒有震懾作用。

Let’s forget about bodies of water for a moment. After all, most people associate scarecrows with cornfields rather than ponds or fisheries. So, how good are they at protecting crops? Not very—unless you’re willing to put some extra effort into them.

讓我們暫時忘記水中的稻草人吧。畢竟，大多數(shù)人會把稻草人和玉米田聯(lián)系在一起而不是池塘或魚苗孵化場。那么，稻草人保護農(nóng)作物的效果怎么樣？并不太好，除非你愿意給稻草人加點料。

While traditional, motionless scarecrows do work against “pest birds” (e.g. crows and blackbirds), the effect is almost always temporary. Over time, the birds get used to stationary dummies and resume their destructive habits.

盡管傳統(tǒng)的一動不動的稻草人對害鳥（比如烏鴉和烏鶇）確實有作用，但是效果基本上都持續(xù)不了多久。隨著時間流逝，這些鳥類習慣了一動不動的稻草人，又會故態(tài)復萌，開始毀壞莊稼。

However, a few tricks can up your scarecrow’s game. Researchers have learned that those with realistic facial features and brightly colored clothes are slightly better at shooing away birds. Also, moving a scarecrow around every few days often helps.

不過，你只需幾個小技巧就能讓你的稻草人戰(zhàn)斗力升級。研究人員發(fā)現(xiàn)，面容逼真、衣服鮮艷的稻草人對于嚇走鳥兒略勝一籌。另外，每隔幾天就移動一下稻草人也有幫助。

According to several studies, flailing models get the very best results. In 1989, one scientist reported that a “human-like mannequin” that occasionally lurched upwards via a double propane cannon managed to keep up to six acres of sunflowers safe from blackbirds.

多項研究顯示，雙臂揮舞的稻草人效果最好。1989年，一名科學家報告稱，通過一個雙丙烷加農(nóng)炮讓一個人體模型時不時突然冒出來，成功地讓6英畝向日葵花田免受烏鶇的侵害。

Future farmers may have plenty of high-tech options to choose from. A robotic alternative known as the “Agrilaser” randomly deploys sweeping laser beams to keep birds away. “The system is noiseless,” Arnold Bosgoed, a farmer had tested it out, told The Daily Mail in 2014, “and the birds do not seem to get used to the laser beam. The installation was easy and requires no maintenance.” Another contraption—the solar-powered “digital scarecrow”—detects nearby animals with an infrared eye that surveys 178,000 square feet. When a critter gets too close, it’s warded off with a harmless supersonic wave.

未來農(nóng)民們可能會有很多高科技驅(qū)鳥產(chǎn)品供其選擇。一款名為Agrilaser的驅(qū)鳥機器隨機掃射激光束來驅(qū)趕鳥兒。試用過這款機器的農(nóng)民阿諾德·波斯古德2014年告訴《每日郵報》：“這個系統(tǒng)是無聲的，而且鳥類似乎不會習慣這種激光束。安裝起來很容易，也不需要維護。”另一種號稱“數(shù)字稻草人”的太陽能裝置可以用紅外探測器掃描17.8平方英尺范圍并檢測到附近的動物。當一個動物靠得太近，這種數(shù)字稻草人就會發(fā)射無害的超聲波來驅(qū)趕動物。

英文來源：Mental Floss

翻譯&編輯：丹妮