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.

Knight

Jellyfish

The Gathering of the Clans

Rabbit

Banksy

Reduviidae

Adam Ant

Wandering Egret

Lung

Swing the Baby

Dancing with the Stars

Ice-cream

Terrier

Comet

Wild Goose Blues

Angel Fish

Running Moa

Seed

The Nymph and the Brolga

Ostrich Running

Santa’s Sack

Dromaius

Satellite 18

The Beach

Flower of Scotland

Sunset

Emu Running

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

Night Cat

Footballer

Porthole

Dandelion, Stripped

Eruption

Melbourne Cup, 1930

Singing Bird 2

Lily

Turn my back on the devil

Brachyura

Angel Fish Parting Ways

Cockroach

Alison Preparing the Duck

Sapling

Angler

Battlefield

Mountaineer

Satellite

Hummingbird

Drunk Conductor

Anselm Kiefer

Stork

Mortality on the Farm

Love Under Fire

Robin

Dancing Ogórek

Herons

Paris

Graham’s Cross

Harry on his Nimbus 2000

Setting Up Camp

Incoming Storm

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

Excited

Elegance

Out of the Game

Harbour Islands

Almost a 6

Cracking the Whip

Marker

Jumping Rat

Web

Speech Bubble

Emergence

Leonard

Jordan

Mouse Riding the Stringray

Flashes

Circus

Shrimp

James Lawrence Levine

Sakuran

Determined Woman (with Mary Somerville)

Garden Shrimp

Bat and Quokka

Salmon

Sandhill Crane

Fireball

Natalie

Fireworks

Mouse Outside the House

Towards the Ancient City

Cirque du Soleil

Bilateral Amputee, Juggling

The Sounds

Witch Travel

Pelecanus

Desert Shades

Pelvis

Late Advent

Cat Looking

Intersections

Leather Jacket

All the bread of their provision was dry and mouldy

Hosanna

Waterfall

Hound

Summit

Pod

Southern Alps

Bull Terrier

After Bruegel’s Blind Leading the Blind

By the Sea of Galilee, Israel (taken by Stefanie)

Phophatidylserine Receptor

Stretching

Seahorse

Senator James Paterson

Buddha

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 …