The Science of Bird Poop

An expert breaks down the complex chemicals of bird waste BY EMILY HANNEMANN

- EMILY HANNEMANN

If you’ve ever had a white-and-brown splat on your windshield, you’ve probably thought, What exactly is that? You know it came from a bird, but you might not know how, or why, or the most accurate human term to describe the rapidly drying stain on your car. So we asked an expert to break down the details of bird waste.

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It’s a question both simpler and more complex than you might imagine. “Well, it depends on how you define pee,” says David Wiedenfeld, senior conservation scientist with American Bird Conservancy. “It’s a question that people ask because they’re worried about birds peeing on them. You can get a bird pooping on you, but it’s like, ‘I don’t ever get peed on by a bird.’”

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