By Dan Parker
Red cars convey an image of power to many, but a survey's found they convey something entirely different to birds.
A British company monitored more than 1000 cars and found birds were most likely to poo on red vehicles.
The owners of this $400,000 bright red Ferrari aren't taking any chances. Armstrong Prestige’s Francois Du Plessis keeps it locked up and under shelter in a showroom.
“It's keeping it clean and you know keeping people’s hands off it at night I suppose.”
It’s also about keeping the vehicle out of the crosshairs of 'winged paintwork terrorists'.
A British study of 1100 cars found red ones are more likely to be pooed on by birds than any other colour.
Blue cars are the second most preferred dropping zone, while black takes third place.
White, then grey or silver and finally green make up the numbers.
Anayibi Loboa has noticed it on their cars.
“We have two cars and the silver one is not dirty compared to the red car.”
However others have a different explanation.
“I think I park under trees too much which is the problem,” red car owner Andrew Pankhurst says.
And Jamie Steel does not understand how they could pick colours.
“I just read that they see in black and white so I down know how a bird could distinguish between red.”
But they can. Bird expert Colin Miskelly of Terrestrial Vertebrates says the study is supported by science.
“Birds do have very good colour vision and a lot of birds are attracted to the red end of the spectrum and that's part of why many plants have red flowers or red fruit - because they are trying to attract birds to pollinate their flowers or spread their fruit.”
At least one car manufacturer, Ford, has come up with a solution.
But back in the reality the best advice anyone gave is to avoid parking under trees - especially if your car's red.
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