Faex Avium

I have always been fascinated by poo – the processes of its becoming, its powers to encourage life, and the endless jokes about the subject told by four-year-old boys, and by those boys who have not left their childhoods entirely behind. Over the years, I’ve also enjoyed reading about poo. Some of my favourite books have been Nicola Davies’ Poop: A Natural History of the Unmentionable, Josh Richman & Anish Sheth’s What’s Your Poo Telling You?, Susan Goodman’s Truth about Poop, and Jeannette Rowe’s Whose Poo? (There are more titles here for those wanting to follow up this line of research). Then, sometime in 2016, I noticed that a friend of mine started posting the occasional photo of bird poo on her Facebook feed. I was immediately struck by them. They spoke to me of simplicity, of randomness, of good humour, and of temporality. They highlighted again for me the enormous disparity between my own environmental footprint and that of other creatures. They also invited me to better notice a part of my everyday landscape, especially things like footpaths, objects that are otherwise quite uninteresting. Captured, I started doing the same – taking photos of bird poo. For a few weeks or so, it became something of an obsession, one that resulted in missed trains and lateness to meetings, interesting discussions with curious onlookers wondering what the Methuselah I was doing with my phone so close to the ground, and much amusement with children. It’s been fun. While beauty may well be in the eye of the beholder, joy should be shared. So, below are some of the images I’ve captured, shared in the hope that others may enjoy them too, or at least get a good giggle out of one or two of them.

Cocktail

Almost a 6

Bull Terrier

Setting Up Camp

Harry on his Nimbus 2000

Wild Goose Blues

Thoroughbred

Dandelion, Stripped

Godot’s Tree 1

Three Magi Following the Star

Seahorse

Ostrich Running

Colonial Ties

Mountaineer

Flashes

Melbourne Cup, 1930

Emu Running

Dromaius

Buddha

For he grew up before him like a young plant, and like a root out of dry ground

Battlefield

Herons

Desert Shades

Leonard

Cat Looking

Santa’s Sack

Communion

Waterfall

Heidegger

Cirque du Soleil

Southern Alps

All the bread of their provision was dry and mouldy

Uprooted, after the big winds on Sunday 9 October, 2016

Night Cat

Footballer 2

Pelecanus

Eruption

Towards the Ancient City

Excited

Nebular System

The Gathering of the Clans

Collision Course

Brachyura

Angler

Senator James Paterson

Alison Preparing the Duck

Reflection

Seed

Adam Ant

The Nymph and the Brolga

Cockroach

Singing Bird 2

Dementor

Terrier

Love Under Fire

Dash

Pelvis

The Grim Reaper

Angel Fish Parting Ways

The Sounds

Summit

Out of the Game

Knight

Dancing Ogórek

The Place of the Skull

Satellite

Speech Bubble

Moa Startled by the Sound of a Frog, near Rawiri Bay

Late Advent

Emergence

Determined Woman (with Mary Somerville)

Sakuran

After Bruegel’s Blind Leading the Blind

Dancing Brolga

Shoes with Straps

Marker

Bat and Quokka

Texas Devil

Circus

Some Roses are White

Glide

Mortality on the Farm

Hound

Pod

Horseshoe Crab

Jordan

Armed Soldier

Web

Godot’s Tree 2

Mouse Riding the Stringray

Phophatidylserine Receptor

Natalie

Incoming Storm

Summer Playground

Wandering Egret

I will build a great wall – and nobody builds walls better than me, believe me – and I’ll build them very inexpensively. I will build a great, great wall …