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.

Hound

Marker

Mountaineer

Jellyfish

Setting Up Camp

The Gathering of the Clans

Battlefield

Cracking the Whip

Flower of Scotland

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

Seahorse

Graham’s Cross

Pelecanus

Herons

Bilateral Amputee, Juggling

The Nymph and the Brolga

Eruption

Footballer 2

Excited

Hummingbird

Bull Terrier

Dancing with the Stars

Harbour Islands

Night Cat

Buddha

Paris

Heidegger

Web

Reduviidae

Sapling

Senator James Paterson

Sakuran

Nebular System

Elegance

Emu Running

Swing the Baby

Ostrich Running

Drunk Conductor

Bat and Quokka

Pod

Mouse Outside the House

Some Roses are White

Signature

Reflection

Godot’s Tree 2

Turn my back on the devil

Horseshoe Crab

Scorpio

The Place of the Skull

Angel Fish Parting Ways

Dromaius

Spill

Angler

Shoes with Straps

Ned on a Horse, After Sidney

Emergence

Almost a 6

Anselm Kiefer

Three Magi Following the Star

Southern Alps

James Lawrence Levine

Lung

Rabbit

Communion

Fox

Pelvis

Dementor

Garden Shrimp

Hosanna

Santa’s Sack

Horizon

Fireworks

Dash

Moonrise

A well regulated militia, being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms, shall not be infringed

Balloon

Texas Devil

Seed

Determined Woman (with Mary Somerville)

Salmon

Angel Fish

Cockroach

The Sounds

Wild Goose Blues

Stretching

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 …