{"id":5064,"date":"2012-05-26T03:55:51","date_gmt":"2012-05-26T09:55:51","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/?p=5064"},"modified":"2026-01-06T14:46:51","modified_gmt":"2026-01-06T20:46:51","slug":"birds-on-poopy-perches","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2012\/05\/26\/birds-on-poopy-perches\/","title":{"rendered":"Birds on Poopy Perches"},"content":{"rendered":"

I bet you are wondering what I mean by “Poopy Perches”, I know I would be if I saw that title. Am I talking about perches that are man-made and ugly? Or perches that are just not all that appealing visually?<\/p>\n

\"Long-billedLong-billed Curlew on a bison poop perch – Nikon D300, f8, 1\/1250, ISO 640, +0.3 EV, Nikkor 200-400mm VR with 1.4x TC at 400mm, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

I am really talking about birds on poopy perches\u00a0that go by the names\u00a0manure, dung, droppings, excrement, buffalo chips, prairie patties and meadow muffins.<\/p>\n

There are hundreds of wild American Bison roaming Antelope Island State park so there are plenty of meadow muffins drying on the grasslands there. Bison pooh is a natural fertilizer but until it breaks down there are birds that taken advantage of these slightly elevated pooh perches.<\/p>\n

This Long-billed Curlew was standing on top of a prairie patty after a territorial encounter with another male. Is it just me or does the curlew look like it is trying to hold its breath or trying to keep his gag reflexes under control?<\/p>\n

He was really getting ready to start calling.<\/p>\n

\"HornedHorned Lark and bison manure – Nikon D200, f6.3, 1\/800, ISO 400, Nikkor 200-400mm VR with 1.4x TC at 400mm, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

Even Horned Larks are willing to hop up on a Buffalo Chip if there aren’t any rocks or boulders nearby.<\/p>\n

I’m not sure what this male Horned Lark\u00a0was singing about but he was doing it with vigor!<\/p>\n

\"WilletWillet on a poopy perch – Nikon D200, f7.1, 1\/160, ISO 400, +0.7 EV, Nikkor 200-400mm VR with 1.4x TC at 400mm, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

I photographed this Willet on a poopy perch, or meadow muffin, earlier this week, it looked around, it called from the perch and it preened while on top of the manure pile.<\/p>\n

I’ve also seen Chukars and Western Meadowlarks perched on these poopy perches and I am sure there are probably more bird species that do it too.<\/p>\n

\"BisonBison poop on a Post – Nikon D200, f10, 1\/640, ISO 500, Nikkor 200-400mm VR with 1.4x TC at 357mm, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

I caught sight of this Bison pooh from the corner on my eye and had to go back to photograph it. Now I know the Bison didn’t poop on the post so I had to wonder why a person would pick up a Buffalo chip and top off a post with it.<\/p>\n

Seriously, I couldn’t stop laughing. Poop on a Pedestal? Why would anyone want to grab a Buffalo chip and put it on a pole?<\/p>\n

Bison manure was used by Native Americans on the plains as fuel for heat and cooking fires, I guess the birds have a use for it too.<\/p>\n

Life is<\/em> good.<\/p>\n

Mia<\/p>\n

Click here<\/a><\/span> to see more of my bird images in their galleries.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I bet you are wondering what I mean by “Poopy perches”, I know I would be if I saw that title. Am I talking about perches that are man-made and ugly? Or perches that are just not all that appealing visually?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":163881,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":true,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[511,27,436,89,199,26,308],"tags":[4021,4393,4808,4809,4181,1327,90,6433,2136,4132,9526,4133,1549,9525,9524,4168,4047],"class_list":["post-5064","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-antelope-island-state-park","category-avian","category-horned-larks","category-humor","category-long-billed-curlews","category-utah","category-willets","tag-bird-photography","tag-bison-poop","tag-curlew","tag-curlews","tag-eremophila-alpestris","tag-horned-lark","tag-humor-2","tag-lark","tag-larks-2","tag-long-billed-curlew","tag-manure","tag-numenius-americanus","tag-perch","tag-poopy","tag-poopy-perches","tag-tringa-semipalmata","tag-willet"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/long-billed-curlew-poop-mia-mcpherson-3879.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p11Mom-1jG","jetpack_sharing_enabled":false,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":6270,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2012\/10\/05\/horned-lark-on-a-poopy-perch\/","url_meta":{"origin":5064,"position":0},"title":"Horned Lark On A Poopy Perch","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"October 5, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"Most of the Horned Larks I photograph are perched on rocks or boulders, this one is perched on a dried pile of Bison poop. Some might think this is a crappy perch and they would be right!","rel":"","context":"In "Antelope Island State Park"","block_context":{"text":"Antelope Island State Park","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/locations\/utah\/antelope-island-state-park\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Horned Lark bison pooh perch, Antelope Island State Park, Davis County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/horned-lark-poop-mia-mcpherson-9029.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/horned-lark-poop-mia-mcpherson-9029.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/horned-lark-poop-mia-mcpherson-9029.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, 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