Purple Bird Poop

We get pooped on a lot on this project. One of my co-workers once said, "I'm fine with poop, as long as it is not in my mouth." Frankly, it doesn't bother me either (and I hope it doesn't bother you, my readers-- I guess you can't be too squeamish a bunch with my photos of dissected dead robins, embryos and poop). As a veterinary nurse, I not only got poop all over me regularly, but also got peed on, bled on, vomited on etc.

But I digress. Normal bird poop looks more or less like what you see above. But now that the mulberry trees are fruiting, the robins are pooping purple poop. I kid you not. So everything is purple. The bags we put them in between when we take them out of the net and process them, our clothes when they poop on us, the bird's feathers, my fingers. I knew my field clothes would get ruined this summer, but never had any idea I would be covered in purple poop!