Pigeon droppings, the waste product of pigeons, are known by many names. This article will explore some of the most common synonyms used for pigeon poop and provide some background on why pigeons and their droppings elicit such strong reactions from people.
Why Do People Dislike Pigeons?
Pigeons are ubiquitous birds, found in most cities around the world. While some view them as filthy flying rats, others see them as misunderstood creatures deserving of compassion. Here are some of the main reasons pigeons have a bad reputation:
- They poop everywhere – Pigeons can produce up to 25 pounds of droppings per year each. With large urban flocks, this quickly piles up on buildings, statues, cars, and sidewalks.
- They carry disease – Pigeon droppings contain fungal spores that can cause respiratory illnesses in humans. Pigeons can also transmit bacterial diseases through their waste.
- They damage infrastructure – Pigeon droppings are highly acidic and can corrode metal and stone surfaces on buildings.
- They’re considered a nuisance – Pigeons flock in public areas where their cooing, nesting, and droppings annoy many people.
However, pigeons also play positive ecological roles, such as recycling waste, controlling insect populations, and spreading seeds. But when it comes to their droppings, most people only see a messy annoyance.
Common Synonyms for Pigeon Poop
Now that we’ve examined why pigeons have such a poor reputation, let’s look at some of the many synonyms used for their white or greenish droppings:
- Bird doo/dung
- Guano
- Pigeon mess/waste
- Bird poop/poo
- Crap
- Pigeon excrement
- Poo
- Dung
- Plop
- Droppings
- Poop
- Feces
- Pigeon shit
- Fecal matter
- Pigeon turds
- Guana
- Poo
Many of these terms are informal, crude, or scatological in nature, which speaks to the level of disgust and annoyance people seem to reserve especially for pigeon excrement. Calling it by a more genteel name like “droppings” or “poo” is an attempt to politely refer to something widely considered to be revolting.
What Makes Pigeon Poop So Offensive?
Pigeon droppings provoke such a visceral reaction because of a few key properties:
Color
Pigeon poop is white with a greenish tinge. The greenish color comes from their urine being mixed in with the white feces. The startling whiteness stands out starkly against dark pavement, while the green hue looks foreign and sickly. This unusual coloring commands attention.
Smell
The odor given off by accumulated pigeon droppings can be quite strong and ammonia-like. It’s caused by uric acid and the breakdown of their undigested food. This unpleasant smell only worsens negative perceptions.
Texture
Pigeon poop has a slimy texture when fresh. As it dries, it becomes crumbly and powerfully adhesive – yet will wash away with water. This half-liquid, half-solid texture can disgust people on an instinctual level.
Accumulation
Cities full of pigeons lead to large accumulations of poop in certain areas. Seeing layers upon layers of the stuff accumulates reinforces its gross-out factor.
Disease Factor
Knowing that dried pigeon droppings contain fungi and bacteria makes people want to avoid it even more for health reasons. This perception of disease risk amplifies the yuck factor.
So it’s the pigeon poop’s look, smell, feel, abundance, and potential for causing illness that combine to make it so widely reviled. But as any pigeon-lover would say, try not to hate on the bird – the poop’s just part of package!
Creative Uses of Pigeon Poop
Believe it or not, throughout history people have found some ingenious uses for abundant pigeon droppings:
Fuel
Pigeon poop is rich in uric acid. This makes it useful as a heating fuel when dried. In places like Egypt, dried pigeon dung has been used to directly fuel fires.
Fertilizer
The high nitrogen content in pigeon droppings makes it an excellent organic fertilizer. It can be mixed into compost or used directly to nourish soil. Its alkaline pH also helps balance acidic soils.
Leather Tanning
A chemical called guanine in pigeon poop can be used to treat animal hides in leather production. It makes leather more supple and pliant.
Medicine
Dried, powdered pigeon droppings called verminosite were once thought to cure a variety of ailments. Modern science shows this claim is dubious, but the practice persists in some traditional medicines.
Saltpeter Production
Pigeon droppings contain potassium nitrate or saltpeter. This was historically dug out of dried pigeon dung piles to make gunpowder and fertilizer.
Cooking
Believe it or not, processed pigeon droppings called pigeonite were used as a cooking additive in the 17th-19th centuries! Thankfully, modern diners eschew this practice.
So while pigeon poop might be seen as a smelly nuisance today, resourceful people once found ways to utilize it. The droppings aren’t so bad when seen as an energy source, crop booster, or leather aid!
Funny References to Pigeon Poop in Pop Culture
Pigeon droppings’ unsavory reputation has made them an object of jokes and gags across pop culture:
Cartoons
Classic cartoons like Tom & Jerry featured scenes where characters had comic mishaps involving pigeon poop. Getting bombed by pigeon droppings was a trope used for messy, embarrassing physical comedy.
Movies
In films like Home Alone 2, Ninja Turtles, and more, scenes where characters slip on pigeon droppings or otherwise interact with them played pigeons’ poop factor for laughs.
TV Shows
Pigeon poop gags have appeared across sitcoms like Friends, Seinfeld, How I Met Your Mother, and The Big Bang Theory, where Sheldon memorably freaks out over the mess on his window.
Video Games
Games like Grand Theft Auto allow players’ cars to become dirtied by virtual pigeon droppings for humorous effect. Pooping pigeons also show up in games like The Sims and World of Warcraft.
Books
Famous children’s books like Captain Underpants incorporated potty humor involving pigeon droppings to amuse young readers.
Comics
Newspaper comics like Garfield, Zits, and Shoe all feature jokes about characters getting pooped on by birds for comical punchlines.
So while pigeon poop is a headache in real life, it gets played for laughs across media and entertainment. Audiences connect with the yucky nuisance factor that makes it universally relatable.
Pigeon Droppings Statistics
To underscore how ubiquitous pigeon waste is, especially in cities, let’s look at some telling statistics:
Pigeon population in US cities | Around 68 million |
Average pigeon droppings per day (ounces) | 0.8 oz |
Pounds of poop per pigeon per year | 25 lb |
Pounds of poop produced yearly by NYC pigeon population | Over 62,000 tons |
Average number of droppings per square foot in a pigeon nesting area | 50 |
Maximum droppings under a favored roost | Up to 400 lbs per square foot! |
These astonishing numbers help explain why city buildings and infrastructure suffer so much corrosive damage from decades of pigeon pooping piled en masse. NYC alone spends around $1.1 million just to power clean buildings of pigeon droppings!
Notable Pigeon Poop Incidents
Here are some bizarre stories that show how pigeon droppings have interfered with modern human society:
The “Arsenic and Old Lace” Poisonings
In 2011, an elderly New York woman mysteriously died along with her two cats. Authorities eventually learned her niece had been slowly poisoning her using chemicals extracted from pigeon droppings on her balcony!
The Corroded Lenin Statue
Vladimir Lenin’s famous bronze statue in Seattle was slowly corroded over decades by pigeon droppings. Preserving the statue ultimately cost tens of thousands of dollars.
The UK Train Station Shutdown
In 2000, corrosive pigeon poop brought down power lines at a UK train station, shutting it down for hours. Some 20,000 commuters’ days were disrupted due to the cascading infrastructure failure.
The Australian Plane Quarantine
A 747 in Australia had to be quarantined for three days after landing due to concerns over raw pigeon droppings harboring disease. The extreme actionshows how seriously officials take the health risks.
The White House Hawking Intervention
In 2013, the Obamas brought in a hawk to scare off pigeons fouling the White House portico. The natural pest control tactic aimed to clean up pigeon droppings plaguing the famous building.
So while pigeon poop jokes abound in culture, it can have serious detrimental impacts in the real world! Places with big pigeon populations have to work constantly to mitigate the problems the prolific droppings can cause.
Conclusion
To summarize, pigeon droppings have earned quite a negative reputation, fueled by their messy and abundant nature, perceived disease risk, and ability to damage infrastructure. This causes them to be synonymous in most people’s minds with terms like “poop”, “crap”, “guano”, and “bird doo-doo”. Pop culture containing jokes about pigeon poop shows that this sentiment has deeply taken root in the public consciousness.
Yet for all the disdain they elicit today, pigeon droppings have served some surprisingly practical uses over the centuries. And while modern cities may regard them as a smelly nuisance, the poop itself is just an unavoidable natural bodily function of a bird that happens to dwell near humanity in great numbers. So the next time you see some “pigeon turds”, “bird dung”, or “poop” on the sidewalk, try to have some sympathy for the misunderstood and widely maligned pigeon!