Going Green

It's the second time in the past few days when I have accidentally photographed a bird relieving itself.

The first was the great egret. It was flying along with its legs elegantly together but parted them to poop.

I shot this ring-necked parakeet just outside the Wildlife Discovery Centre soon after I arrived at Fishers Green late this afternoon. I noticed the bead of matter when I looked at the image on screen and was amused that the shiny substance looked green, caused by a reflection of the bird's plumage.

Birds, unlike mammals, don't produce urine. Instead they excrete nitrogenous wastes in the form of uric acid, which emerges as a shiny white paste. I was interested to read that the well-known disease of parrots, psittacosis, causes the birds to have green droppings.