BirdNote; Why Bird Poop Is White

BirdNote®

Why Is Bird Poop White?

Written by Bob Sundstrom

This is BirdNote.

[Black-headed Grosbeak 6]

Birds brighten our lives. [Continue Black-headed Grosbeak song] We find joy in their songs, inspiration in their soaring flight. They connect us with nature.

But sometimes birds connect us a bit too directly with nature.

[Boink!! Splat!!]

Park under the wrong tree – one where a flock of starlings roost – and nature may be painted in white on your car so thickly it takes three trips through the carwash to see through the windshield.

[Flock of European Starlings]

This messy encounter raises some questions: Why is most bird poop white? And why is it so hard to get off your car?

Bird droppings are often called “whitewash.” Molecular products concentrated by a bird’s kidneys emerge as a white substance. Recently, whitewash was shown to be made up of ammonium urate, struvite and two unknown compounds—but not uric acid, as was long thought.

Whitewash sticks like crazy, and once the goopy white stuff dries, it sets up like concrete. It’s going to take lots of liquid and elbow grease to pry it loose.

A study in England found that red cars are the most likely targets of bird droppings, and green the least likely. So be careful where you park — and give that red Mustang a wide berth.

For BirdNote, I’m Michael Stein.

[Black-headed Grosbeak song or….more music?]

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Bird sounds provided by The Macaulay Library at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Ithaca, New York. Grosbeak recorded by T.G. Sander.

Flock of European Starlings recorded by Martyn Stewart of naturesound.org.

Producer: John Kessler

Executive Producer: Sallie Bodie

Editor: Ashley Ahearn

Associate Producer: Ellen Blackstone

Assistant Producer: Mark Bramhill

© 2019 Tune In to Nature.org updated November 2019 Narrator: Michael Stein

ID# poop-02-2012-11-26 poop-02c

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2019/09/190924175704.htm

University of Texas at Austin. "Bird droppings defy expectations." ScienceDaily. www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2019/09/190924175704.htm (accessed October 23, 2019).

Link to birds “targeting” red vehicles: http://www.wtop.com/681/2916790/Even-birds-have-favorite-car-colors----t...