h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Bird-crap on vehicles:

http://cartalk.cars.com/Mail/Poop/followup15.html (extensive article from "Car Talk" the NPR radio show... do browse their site as well. It is excellent!)

http://erkx0383.tripod.com/archive0502.htm
"After driving my bro from school, i parked the car into the garage and just as i was walking away from it, i spotted two, not one, but two spots of bird excrement on my beautifully hand-washed car! i don't even remember parking under telephone wires or trees! i was so incredibly pained to see those unmistakable spots of white splatter on the roof. it takes quite a bit of effort to get those things out. the way bird dung cakes on metal panels is absolutely horrible. you need a pressure washer set to 1000 lbs of pressure to blast it away, and afterwards, you need a sponge that is as gritty as sandpaper soaked in HCL to completely remove all remaining traces of the dropping." (my note: not sure if this is practical advice or tongue-in-cheek...)


From an article on the 2000 Ford Excursion:
http://www.edmunds.com/reviews/roadtests/roadtest/44284/article.html
"It's larger than the redesigned Chevrolet Suburban and GMC Yukon XL -- much larger. To the extent that it must be parked outside in the weather because it won't fit in a standard garage. So have fun scraping the ice off the windows in the winter and scrubbing bird excrement and tree sap off the roof in the summer. In comparison, the shorter (in length and height) Suburban and Yukon XL squeeze into most covered spaces attached to modern homes" (my note: I do not recommend "srubbung bird excrement" off your vehicle).

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Guano, etc.:

http://tonedef71.tripod.com/docs/trivfax.txt
Bird droppings are the chief export of Nauru, an island nation in the Western Pacific

http://www.nuffic.nl/ciran/ikdm/8-3/shahvali.html
"Another by-product of poultry is their excrement. Bird excrement has been used in Iran for centuries. As the Russian historian Petrushewsky noted, pigeon dung has traditionally been the most valuable dung used by Iranian farmers. And in Isfahan there were always a great many collecting towers for pigeon dung (Lahsaii-zadeh 1990). Nowadays chicken manure is used only for vegetable gardens.

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Health Hazard:

http://www.workershealth.com.au/facts056.html
"Cryptococcus neoformans is a species of fungi which is often present on the excrement of pigeons. It may remain alive for months in dried bird faeces, and therefore is a common inhabitant of soil contiminated by bird excrement.

Cryptococcus infection usually occurs in the lung. In some instances, exposure to the fungi may result in pneumonia like symptoms, and a form of meningitis, although this is quite rare. Workers exposed to bird excrement should be adequately protected by appropriate respiratory equipment such as a P2 half face mask with a suitable filter. A long sleeved shirt, trousers, gloves and fully enclosed shoes should also be worn if working in contaminated areas."

http://propertysupport.dioceseny.org/gsa/gsa7.htm
"Guide Pecifications for Contracted Removal of Bird Excrement on Building Exteriors"

1) All contractor personnel must wear a National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) approve full face respirator with a high efficiency particulate air (HEPA) filter for screening particles of 0.3 micron size. Dust and particle masks are not appropriate.

2)Respirators must be used in accordance with OSHA regulation, 29 CFR 1910.134 and GSA policy, PBS P 5900.2C, Chapter 3, section 8. This includes fit testing of respirators, maintenance, training, and storage requirements.

3)All contractor personnel must wear protective coveralls, gloves, boots, and hats.

4)Prior to removal, all excrement must be saturated with water under low pressure to prevent debris form becoming airborne.

5)Never use metal scrapers or wire brushes on stone, decorative metal, or other ornamental materials. On historic structures, only nonmetallic tools (such as plastic spatulas and brushes with natural fiber or nylon bristles) must be used to remove the excrement.

6)Removed excrement must be collected in plastic bags, sealed, and disposed of by the contractor at a sanitary landfill.

7)All work must be performed from the outside of the building.

8)Building occupants and the general public must be kept clear of the work site during all operations. It is the contractor's responsibility to provide all barricades, signage, etc. necessary for public protection

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Safety Hazard:

http://www.bird-x.com/casestudies/airport.html
"There's no delicate way to put this: Bird excrement on runway lights is hideous and hazardous. From a pilot safety standpoint alone, the filthy white film covering the face of lights and directional signs along the taxiways and runway of San Bernardino International Airport was unacceptable. "The bird poop was obstructing and obscuring the lights, creating a safety hazard," explains Eric Ray, Airport Operations Officer at the 1,000-acre California airport."

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Bird Crap in film:

"Closely Watched Trains"
http://www.ce-review.org/01/9/kinoeye9_kosulicova.html
"The uniform of the pigeon-loving station chief's bird-excrement encrusted cloak becomes a gorgeous and mystic robe, and a mason in white clothes who saves Milo; when he attempts suicide is perceived as God".

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Biblical/Theological:

http://www.tertullian.org/articles/evans_res/evans_res_02intro.htm
"There is also the standard argument about the decline and return of seasons, of days and nights, of seed and fruit, etc., with quotation of John 12. 24 and I Cor. 15. 36, 37: to which is added a further instance of a tree which grew on a mountain from a seed dropped in a bird's excrement. All these, Theophilus remarks, are works of God's wisdom, designed to show that God is able also to accomplish the catholic resurrection of all mankind."

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Beliefs:

http://www.warsawvoice.pl/old/v700/Buzz13.html
"A closer look at the most popular superstitions in Poland, reveals that they reflect old pagan creeds.

Sometimes they are also rooted in distant countries, which may suggest that superstitions are a universal feature of the human race. The belief that a person hit by bird excrement will receive prosperity is apparently common to both Poles and Hindus, for example."

http://www.kultur.gov.tr/portal/kultur_en.asp?belgeno=1591
"When excrement of a bird falls on the head, it means that the person is lucky and will earn money."