作者： 蔡昇達
11/6(四)做了整天的實驗，下午開始天氣快速變冷，五點多時開車回家換厚外套，回實驗室時很高興的停在距離門口最近的樹下(難得有這麼近的空停車位)，想不到九點多做完實驗出來，整車竟然滿滿的皆是烏鴨大便！四個小時的時間，我得到了實驗數據，也得到了滿滿的鳥大便。
圖一、四小時累積的烏鴨大便
回來查了資料，原來明尼蘇達州羅徹斯特市的烏鴉問題已經困擾了幾十年，從 1980 年代就開始了。主要是天冷時城市較溫暖，吸引烏鴨群聚，且幼鳥已養育得差不多，成鳥有較多社交的行為……等，甚至因造成城市居民的困擾及健康風險，去年政府派出神槍手，用塑膠子彈驅趕烏鴨。
圖二、2024 年羅徹斯特市的新聞
過去一年半，我皆是自己洗車(想說美國人工太貴)，但此次實在太驚人，不得不到洗車場請人幫忙，沒想到比想像的便宜許多(含稅 11 美元)，且服務甚佳。洗車的年輕人還請我搖下車窗，問我到底是怎麼了？怎麼可以這麼誇張！
圖三、洗車時從車內拍出去的洗車廠內部
圖四、免費的超強力吸塵器，自助使用
解鎖了洗車服務，以後不必再辛苦的自己洗車、吸塵，為此次最大的收穫。感謝骨科學長介紹的洗車廠。
圖五、花 11 美元清掉滿滿的烏鴨大便，實在值得！
On Thursday, November 6, I spent the entire day running experiments. By afternoon, the weather had suddenly turned cold. Around five o’clock I drove home to change into a thicker coat. When I returned to the lab, I happily parked under the tree closest to the entrance — a rare empty spot that near!
Unexpectedly, when I finished my experiments and came out around nine o’clock, I found my entire car completely covered with crow droppings. In just four hours, I obtained both my experimental data and a car full of bird excrement.
After checking the internet, I discovered that the crow problem in Rochester, Minnesota, has actually troubled the city for decades — dating back to the 1980s. In winter, the city’s slightly warmer temperature attracts large gatherings of crows. By this season, the young have already been raised, and the adult birds engage in more social behaviors. The situation has caused such nuisance and potential health risks to residents that last year the government even sent sharpshooters armed with plastic bullets to drive the crows away.
For the past year and a half, I’ve always washed my car myself (labor costs in the U.S. are high, after all). But this time the mess was so extraordinary that I had no choice but to go to a car wash and ask for help. To my surprise, it was much cheaper than I expected — only $11 including tax — and the service was excellent.
One of the young workers even asked me to roll down my window and exclaimed, “I am curious what on earth happened? How could your car get this bad? I will get it off.”
By “unlocking” the car-wash service, I no longer need to struggle washing and vacuuming the car by myself — truly the greatest reward from this episode. Many thanks to my orthopedic senior colleague (Dr. Sam Chen) who recommended this car wash!
