Natural History Wanderings

Audubon reporte

Peppers in the wild grow only so spicy, and new research suggests that may be to satisfy avian palates.

Conventional wisdom has long held that birds are immune to spice. Many a bird blog recommends fending off squirrels by filling feeders with chili pepper-coated bird seed, the assumption being that birds won’t mind. And it makes sense; where hot peppers grow in the wild, birds eat the fruit undisturbed.

In fact, birds are the primary dispersers for pepper plants. The fiery doni sali chili, native to the Mariana Islands, is even named for the species that spreads its seeds—the Micronesian Starling, or Såli. “Peppers depend upon birds for moving to new habitats or to empty open spaces,” says Haldre Rogers, an ecologist at Virginia Tech.

Still, the avian palate may have its limits. Emerging research suggests that, with extremely spicy peppers, even birds feel the heat.