Why is a Bird Pooping on You Good Luck?

Obviously when bird excrement lands on you, your first thought usually isn’t, ‘wow, a bird pooped on my head, I’m so lucky!’. When a bird decides to do its business on you, it’s common to experience feelings of anger or disgust, rather than thoughts of good fortune. But what you should be thinking is, ‘out of all the spots it chose to poo, it picked me!’. It’s like you won a prize - not a great prize, but a prize all the same. If you love to enter competitions but haven’t had luck on your side, it may be a good idea to get shat on by a bird.

Not convinced? Let us try and persuade you to - somewhat - embrace the avian excrement.

Why is it considered good luck when a bird poops on you?

Have you ever thought, why is it good luck when a bird poops on you? According to pigeonpedia.com, the idea for this good luck sign originated in Russia and the reason is… because the chances of bird poo landing on you is very low.

What are the chances of a bird shitting on you?

Very unlikely! Let’s break down the odds. We believe that the average person spends 5,184 seconds outside a day, or 86 minutes. So, birds have an 86 minute window where they have the chance to do a poo on you. Every 2,880 seconds, a bird does its business, meaning that every second you are around a bird, there is a 0.001 chance that it will be shitting on you.

There’s even a mathematical formula to calculate the probability of a bird pooping on you. You can crunch the numbers as follows:

1-(1-a/A)*(1-a/A)

The head and shoulder area of the body is signified by, ‘a’, where ‘A’ represents the region that a bird travels around. So, for every bird’s dropping, the probability of you being hit by it is ‘a/A’. Thus, the probability of a poop missing you is ‘1-a/A’. The multiplication sign in the formula signifies the probability of two independent events missing you, like two shits from one single bird or one poop from two seperate birds.

Obviously some countries have more birds than others, thus increasing your chances. Ireland has a lot of birds, both in the cities and along the coast, there are always birds nearby. You could argue that this helps make us Irish lucky.

It’s a mindset: Embrace the poop

If you should fall victim to a bird turd, try and see the positive side. Focus on the audacious odds and the 0.001 probability of a bird defecating on you. The chances of it happening to you was very unlikely but it did. Clearly Lady Luck’s is on your side, so make the most of it!

As the old cliché goes, ‘if you’re not in, you can’t win!’. When you get crapped on by a bird, this is a sure sign that you should enter as many competitions as possible because you could very well be on the start of a lucky streak.

4 Tips On How To Get A Bird To Poop On You

Now that you've been convinced that getting soiled by bird turd is a good thing, here are our 4 top tips on how to improve your chances of it happening to you.

1. Feed the birds

Maybe Mary Poppins was on to something here? She was an avid bird feeder and she seemed to have life go her way!

Birds will eat almost anything but it’s a good idea to feed them foods that will get the bowels moving. Bread of any kind is good. A few slices of Pat The Baker will do. Wild berries are also known to have laxative effects as they're high in fibre.

Try hanging a bird feeder filled with nuts above your front door! This could boost your chances of poop-fall every time you leave the house.

2. Frequent squares and outdoor cafes

Many birds like to congregate close to human populations as these spots can provide potential food sources. Urban avians appear to be wise to the fact that us humans tend to leave crumbs and food waste around town squares and outdoor cafes. So making a reservation for an outside table at your favourite cafe may be a good plan. Once seated, scatter some bits of food by your seat and you’ll be inundated with pigeons in no time.

3. Visit the park

Rain or shine, birds love to hang about in parks. Crows, blackbirds, sparrows, seagulls, ducks and pigeons are all regular park attendees. So, if you need a bit of luck in your life, take a stroll through or even better have a picnic at your local park.

Top tip! Choose a seating area or bench that is situated under a tree to encourage downward travelling dumps to land on you.

4. Get waterside

Living on this small island, you're never far from the coastline. Our population of seagulls is impressive and these glutinous gulls are easy to seduce with scraps of food. Even if you’re inland, Ireland has lots of rivers, ponds and lakes. Birds like swallows, sparrows, geese, swans and ducks all hang around fresh water.

Birds That Bring The Best Luck

Some birds are considered more lucky than others! And depending on the avian excrement, the luck may differ too. Check out Lucky.ie’s list of the top 7 lucky birds below.

Not all of these birds can be found in Ireland so you might need to go on holiday to get lucky with some of them.

If you're one of the fortunate people who gets pooped on by a bird, you know what to do! Go and start entering competitions, because it’s clearly your lucky day.