Urohidrosis

A white stork in Tsavo East National Park, Kenya. The lower parts of its legs are covered with whitish droppings

Urohidrosis (sometimes misspelled "urohydrosis"[1]) is the habit in some birds of defecating onto the scaly portions of the legs as a cooling mechanism, using evaporative cooling of the fluids. Birds' droppings consist of both feces and urine, which are excreted together through the cloaca.

  1. ^ Elliott, A. (1992). "Family Ciconiidae (Storks)". In del Hoyo, J; A. Elliott, J. Sargatal (eds.). Handbook of the Birds of the World. Vol. 1. Lynx Edicions, Barcelona. pp. 441–449.