Bird Poop Destroyed the Bridge in Minnesota?

[Alexis Froehlich]

No didn't read it in the National Enquirer, but a local newspaper. Anyway, they said that it's possible that bird poop destroyed the bridge in Minnesota. That's right, bird poop might have been the culprit behind the I-35 bridge (over the Mississippi River) collapse.

The culprit: pigeons.

A few years ago, I would have laughed my head off, and chalked it up to the theory that dinosaurs became extinct because they farted themselves to death... whew, that methane...

But this is not a few years ago. This is now. My roofing shingles on my home are apparently very warm and cozy little homes to pigeons. So I've learned the real truth about these birds: Pigeons may be cute (to some) to look at but they are disgusting, dirty birds. Their poop is toxic. It eats through cement, roofing materials, car paint, etc. Wait - it gets better:

Pigeon poop becomes acidic when water is introduced to it.
Nice.
So if you think rain is going to wash away your pigeon poop, well you may be right - and it'll take bits of the cement/roof/paint etc with it! I found out the homeowner's insurance doesn't cover any damage done by pigeons. Don't you love learning things by personal experience?

Now I'm waiting for someone to do a sequal of Hitchcock's The Birds. It'd be a science fiction one... a small rural town, suffering from a drought, covered in pigeon poop. And then the first rain comes...

[NoTrouble]

Alfred Hitchcocks, The Birds was on last night. My girl friend screamed when they came to the part where the farmer had his eyes ate out. She almost gave me a heart attack and I sat clutching my chest for a bout a minute.

I believe that bird poop is corrosive. All you have to do is try to wash your car afterwords, that stuff never comes off.

[Archbob]

It might be, but in this case, I think it was just crappy bridge design and they are trying to find a scapegoat. If it is bird poop, they need to find less corrosive materials to build bridges with as shooting down all the birds is just not a plausible solution.

[007]

I've seen the damage those pigeons can do. Who needs weapons when you've got pigeons!

Seriously, I can see how this affected the bridge. Pigeons dump all over the place, the state doesn't hire anyone specializing in pigeon poop removal - yes, they exist, and make fat cash - so the poop not only corrodes some material here and there, but covers up the nuts and bolts, etc. that the state workers should have been checking to make sure everything's ok.

where again does our money go to??

[Nicole]

If this is true, how sad that the collapse of the Minnesota bridge could have been prevented simply by cleaning off pigeon poop.

I'm right there with you 007. where is our money going to?