23-05-2025
The birds so full of plastic they 'crack and crunch': Heartbreaking images lay bare the devastating impact of Earth's pollution
It's not a sound commonly associated with birds.
But a colony of flesh-footed shearwaters 'crack and crunch' because they've consumed so much plastic, experts have revealed.
Lord Howe, a small volcanic island off Australia's east coast, is home to around 44,000 shearwaters – also known as mutton birds.
Once born, their chicks are in their burrows for 90 days and should be getting a diet of fish and squid from their parents.
But mum and dad are accidentally feeding them meals of plastic – including balloon clips, pieces of LEGO, pen lids, bottle tops and wheels from a toy car.
Scientists once found a record 778 pieces of plastic in an 80-day-old seabird chick.
And they say every single bird now has 50 or more pieces in their stomach.
Dr Alex Bond, senior curator in charge of birds at the Natural History Museum, has been documenting threats to the island's bird life since 2009.
'The parents lay one egg a year and that hatches in late January,' he said.
'The parents then spend the next three months going out into the Tasman Sea, collecting food or plastic, bringing it back and feeding the chick.'
Plastic can account for up to 10 per cent of the chick's total body weight, leaving no room for real food.
Dr Bond explained that plastic can also absorb toxins in the ocean, end up in a bird's stomach and release these toxins into the bloodstream.
Along with scientists from the Esperance Tjaltjraak Native Title Aboriginal Corporation and the University of Tasmania, he has been measuring contaminants in the birds' blood and feathers.
They also study tissue damage to the birds' internal organs, and examine plastic from inside their stomachs.
Sadly, they find dead or dying birds on Lord Howe Island's beaches most mornings.
Once chicks emerge from their burrows they head for the water. Those which are too weak to face the ocean can easily be rolled by the waves and drown.
The team take the birds back to their lab and empty their stomachs – most of which are filled with countless large chunks and pieces of plastic.
They also flush the stomachs of living birds by gently pumping seawater into them, which causes the bird to vomit it back up into a bucket.
Anything they have eaten that is lodged in their belly – such as plastic – comes back up with it.
'These are chicks that have been accidentally fed all this plastic by their parents,' Dr Bond said.
'They haven't even fledged the nest yet by the time this amount of rubbish accumulates in their systems, but they will eventually be expected to migrate from Australia to Japan on their own.
'With that amount of material inside them, many will never make it.'
He said in some instances, he can feel and hear 'crunching' when holding the birds.
Previous studies into the birds have found that those with the most plastic in their stomachs have higher concentrations of toxic contaminants in their tissues.
In 2023 Dr Bond and his team came up with the name 'plasticosis' to describe the disease where plastic repeatedly digging into the bird's stomach can cause irritation.
Population data suggests that the number of flesh-footed shearwaters on Lord Howe island has dropped significantly.
The Natural History Museum says people can help by cutting down on single-use plastics like water bottles and coffee cups, and recycling where possible.
Concerned citizens should report birds tangled in plastic or other debris to help scientists understand more about the scale and spread of plastic pollution.
HOW DOES PLASTIC KILL TURTLES?
Sea turtles live in the ocean and feed on vegetation and algae floating in the waters.
Unfortunately, many pieces of litter discarded by humans pollute these waters and resemble food.
The sea turtles mistake them for nutrition and consume them.
This plastic then enters their digestive tract and causes havoc to the animal's innards.
A study in 2018 found eating a single piece of plastic increases the turtles chance of death.
Researchers found there it caused a one in five chance of death - rising to 50 per cent for 14 pieces.
Turtles have a digestive tract which means they are physically incapable of regurgitation.
Once something has been eaten, it stays in the animal unless it can be defecated.
Once inside the animal, if a piece of plastic covers an organ or blocks a key canal, it can create a fatal blockage.
Plastic blockages stopping the passing of food or faeces can kill turtles, but harder pieces can also inflict fatal internal injuries.
