Did you bed them in before you hit the wet? New pads need a few hard stops to transfer material to the rotor, and organics are way pickier about that than semi-metallic. Rain alone shouldn't kill a decent set, so it might be a setup thing more than the pad type.

Ugh, the basil dying on the windowsill thing is way too real, mine always got crispy no matter what I did. Using a tension rod is genius because you don't put holes in the wall, which my landlord would kill me over. I gave up on plants for a while after losing like three rounds of herbs, so hearing yours is huge six weeks later gives me hope. Gonna steal this for sure.

That bit about birds flinching at the oak tree reflection is the part that got me, since I read that it is the reflection of sky and trees that tricks them, not the glass itself. Two feet is way too close, everything I have seen says 10 feet minimum or right up against the pane so they cannot build up speed. My aunt put those dot decals on her slider and the hits dropped off a lot, but you have to cover the whole window with them spaced close or the birds just aim for the gaps.