Burton Silver is a Genius
"WHAT BIRD DID THAT? - A Drivers Guide to Some Common Birds of North America."
By Peter Hansard & Burton Silver, Ten Speed Press, 1991, PB
ISBN 0-89815-427-8
"The noise of a bird dropping hitting a windshield at fifty miles an hour is usually soft, muted, almost ethereal… …the marvel of colors and textures that spread slowly upwards before us."
And so begins the passionate forward to the only book on "Ornithological Dejecta" in the world. Well I hope it's the only book, and if it isn't I'm absolutely certain that it's the only one that will make you laugh.
The rest of the forward by a Dr. Peter Twite recounts a momentous drive through the U.S.A. with the authors, when a rare and particularly beautiful splay was dropped like a present from the gods onto their windshield. Unfortunately it was promptly washed off by an unsuspecting gas station attendant just moments later, lost forever.
As Peter Hansard and Burton Silver tell you in the preface, "There has long been a need, not only among the motoring public, but also with an ever increasing number of bird watchers in this country, for a compact pictorial guide to the identification of ornithological dejecta… … It is our sincere hope that everyday road users will now feel encouraged to mail samples to the National Ornithological Dejecta Society, particularly when noting interesting variations from the norm."
Unfortunately, they have neglected to give us the address of this worthy establishment, so we will all have to restrain ourselves and be content with identifying a multitude of different birds poo as it appears before us.
For the uninitiated here is part of the fascinating entry for the common Starling to whet your appetite.
"…OTHER BOOKS IN THIS SERIES
What Bear Did That?
What Snake Did That?
What Squirrel Did That?
What Toad Did That?
What Camel Did That?
How Do You Know It Wasn't A Dromedary? …"