What Good Is Bird Poop?



Posted: Tuesday, August 01, 2006

by
WindyCityParrot.com

First what good is bird poop? Birds are masters at disguising illness. Budgies are notorious for keeling over out of the clear blue. Why? Parrots are "Prey" birds. Nature implanted the thought "lookout for animals that want to make me dinner." Everything from a parasitic bird called the Horsfield's hawk-cuckoo lays an egg in the nest of another bird species, such as the bushrobin to one mammal that may be an effective predator of parrots is the False Vampire Bat (Vampyrum spectrum). This is the largest bat in the New World with a wingspan of nearly 3 ft. It flies by night and locates birds as they sleep. It then carries its prey back to its roost where it feeds

An adult Green-winged Macaw has been seen captured by a Brown Capuchin Monkey as the macaw waited in the trees above a clay lick in Peru. It is much more common for parrots to fall prey to raptorial birds like an Ornate Hawk-Eagle (a bird with a 4 ft. + wingspan). As a group, the falcons are effective predators of many birds and among the world's best fliers. The Peregrine Falcon is the world's fastest bird and can reach speeds of 200 mph in a dive. This bird is likely a threat to parrots wherever it occurs.

"Safety in numbers," a defensive weapon natures implants in birds is their ability to disguise illness. The beak is an individual defensive weapon. But in nature Illness means weakness to a predator. Birds of an individual species all look the same. You can't feel their beak like you can a dog's nose. Forget about a rectal thermometer. (Rapid changes in weight are another indicator) But looking at poop may enable you to diagnose illness in a bird (that's a whole article in itself) who is not displaying any noticeable symptoms of illness.

Bird poop is also a medium to cultivate nature. Think about it. You're driving through the country and some folks are fishing at a small lake in the middle of nowhere. What are they fishing for? If there are fish, where did they come from? In many cases, bird poop! Birds are scavengers. People tell us our cockatiel will only eat THIS!. I say go to Australia and you'll find cockatiels (and certain Cockatoos) are the pigeons of that continent. Birds will eat fish, dead or alive. some of those fish may be pregnant. The birds will eat the fish and the eggs, fly to another small area of water and poop out the fish eggs while looking for more food. Those fish eggs may become someone's dinner when they grow up. So the next time you kneel down to clean the poop around your bird's cage, think about all the good it can do-do.



Mitch Rezman is the general manger of WindyCityParrot.com. He fields a large volume of calls and email daily regarding the health and well being of our beloved feathered companions

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