White bird-droppings. Why?

[mikewall01]

Why is it that bird droppings are mainly white ?

[Squirrel]

Go to http://www.biology.eku.edu/RITCHISO/birddigestion.html




It's near the bottom of the page. Pretty digusting, really!

[Squirrel]

Squirrel had problems posting the above url because the code got mangled...-- one way to get round the problem is to type several spaces either side of any url you post. They don't show up on the site but for some reason the url appears properly. The wonders of modern technology! It's something we shall try to fix one day. - AB Editor

[mikewall01]

Thanks Suirrel & AB Ed. Would never have found that little gem without help.

[Squirrel]

Thanks for the help, AB Editor.

[Lily]

Hi! If you are interested in bird droppings there is a book available on the subject - What Bird Did That - it is a descriptive book listing the droppings of many British birds - highly entertaining! I quote Amazon's description, 'Synopsis - This spoof bird spotting book, based on accurate ornithological knowledge, reveals the secrets of Britain's commonest birds and their faecal signs for the benefit of motorists everywhere. With full colour illustrations, this guide should enable you to identify which species created which dropping.'

[Deck]

To save ervyone the trouble:

Here is the relevant section:

Why are bird feces white? Unlike mammals, birds don't urinate. Their kidneys extract nitrogenous wastes from the bloodstream, but instead of excreting it as urea dissolved in urine as we do, they excrete it in the form of uric acid. Uric acid has a very low solubility in water, so it emerges as a white paste. This material, as well as the output of the intestines, emerges from the bird's cloaca.�