Got up early Saturday morning and washed and waxed my car. After I finished I did a quick run to drop off a package at the UPS store and a visit to the bank. (They are across the street from each other.)

After spending all of 60 seconds in the UPS store, I come out and find this monster pigeon poop (4 inches in diameter) on my car. I say to myself why always my car? Now I know why...

Gulls more likely to target white cars
TOM SMITHARD

28 June 2005 06:30

It is the news that all white car owners have been dreading - new research yesterday revealed their cars are far more likely to be hit by gulls' droppings than any others.

With the unsightly mess covering most cars regularly driven along our coastline, some may feel the feathered fiends are indiscriminate in their attacks - but not one group beady-eyed scientists.

Researchers in the mathematics department at the University of Bristol studied 1700 cars in their city and counted the number of strikes of gull droppings on each.

Project leader Charles West said: “What was the favourite by quite a clear margin was white coloured vehicles, with 60pc over the expected number of strikes of five or more on each car.”

And experts say it is not just white vehicles under attack, but people wearing white as well.

Graham Appleton, British Trust for Ornithology spokesman, said: “My first reaction on hearing this is to say 'what a load of rubbish' but there are a couple of things that could make this possible.

“We know that birds can decide when to defecate and also that birds are reactive to things the same colour as themselves. We also know that when bird watchers go into colonies they get attacked by beaks and feet and get struck with droppings as the birds fly over.”

But it is as yet unknown whether researchers were foolhardy enough to wear their white lab coats while in the field.

Reaction in Yarmouth, where gulls are notoriously problematic, was mixed.

A recent cull of seagulls in the town prompted much anger from residents after the amount of droppings left by the birds was used to justify it.

Questions are to be asked by councillor Trevor Wainwright to civic leaders in a forthcoming full council meeting.

Yesterday he said: “The argument for the cull was that the birds were causing a mess but the gulls are part of Yarmouth and their mess is part of nature.

“The cull should never have taken place and I hope council leaders will apologise for it and promise it will never happen again.

“Everyone knows gulls poo everywhere and I wouldn't particularly worry if I my car was white - at least it blends in better then!”

Chris Durdin, spokesman for the RSPB in East Anglia, agreed that the cull of seagulls was unnecessary.

“Herring gulls are on the official pest list and permitted authorities can cull them at any time of the year without special permission - but there has to be a good reason for them doing so,” he said.

“There has to be a serious risk to public health and I would suggest creating mess is merely a minor inconvenience.

“The theory that they prefer white surfaces to others is new on me, but one reason might be that white cars are cooler than coloured ones in the summer and gulls perch on them so as to not burn their feet.

“Otherwise, I haven't the foggiest.”

 

I don’t know about white cars never had one, but I can tell you for sure that black cars attract bird pooh like a magnet and so does blue.

 

I try & park next yellow vettes, (Bug Lights)

 

I think Birds are given way to much credit here.

 

No Sh*t....

 

especially if you live in an area inhabited by seagulls

 

I think the last sentence in the article pretty much sums it up.

 

Who gives a "Gull Dropping"

 

Absoultely, positively, do not park under light standards. They perch there, wait for white cars and poop on take-off.

 

I thought as much. Those dirty little#@$*

 

They tend to seek out LeMans Blue quite a bit

 

Thats one thing nice about living inland.... no gulls! Of course, we have
other varities that try to make up for them.

 

Who can post a movie? I can email it to you. I have the solution to this problem.

 

Do people actually get paid for studying pidgion shi$?

 

 

I was taking my nephew for a ride with the top off the other day and a group of seagulls flew over and dumped on the hood, windshield my nephew and I. It is as if they were aiming at us. It was gross.

 

Why not? They get paid for studying COPS who target RED Cars? Whats the difference between cops and pidgeon crap?

 

The pidgeon.

 

 

All I ask is a shotgun, 100 rounds, and amnexty and all will be well with the world. In the interim, we'll have to settle with the detail spray and microfibre towel.