This meal left a permanent mark on the local environment when a nesting coot found the discarded McChicken wrapper and decided to use it to line its nest, where it remained.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt really shows that it\u2019s not just us humans who are writing history, but also these birds are taking notes, keeping a score and then documenting our throwaway society,\u201d said the nest biologist Auke-Florian Hiemstra, who has been researching the influence of the Anthropocene era on birds\u2019 nests in Amsterdam\u2019s canals.<\/p>\n
Hiemstra is a researcher who works on animal architecture and specialises in builds made with artificial material. When investigating nests in the canals, he found a variety of old packaging discarded from the early 1990s up to last year.<\/p>\n
The Eurasian coot only started to migrate to Amsterdam in the late 1980s and Hiemstra\u2019s findings of packaging from 1994 could show the entire life span and heritage of the species\u2019 existence in the area.<\/p>\n
Hiemstra identifies the year from which the packaging originates using best before dates or researching the era in which the logo designs were used.<\/p>\n
Some of the nests have packaging from more recent foods, which gives researchers a more accurate date of when the nest would have been built. \u201cOne nest had a package of fresh milk, and so we knew that the expiry date could not be that far from the day that it was consumed,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Some relics found in the nests include Mars bar packaging advertising the 1994 World Cup, while a more recent nest was made with a layer of face masks, a lasting impact of the waste from the Covid-19 pandemic.<\/p>\n
While a bird\u2019s nest is usually made from twigs and moss, the abundance of plastics has been helpful for birds in the city where natural items are in short supply.<\/p>\n
Hiemstra said there would probably be a return of natural nests if people focused on regreening cities and bringing natural water vegetation back, but in the meantime the birds were successfully working with what they had.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe had this very polluted swan nest in Amsterdam, and everyone was talking about it, saying \u2018such a shame\u2019 and \u2018what a horrible nest\u2019,\u201d he said. \u201cHowever, the swan was very happy with the nest and it had five chicks, and they all made it to adults. For the swan it was a very successful nest. In a way, the same goes for the coots.<\/p>\n
\u201cOur litter for them is not a waste product but something very valuable. I really hope we can learn something from these animals to re-evaluate how we think about our materials. These plastics are a wonderful material yet we use them for single use and throw them away.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s really frustrated me, the term \u2018throwaway society\u2019. The \u2018away\u2019 is not a specific place, \u2018away\u2019 is still here,\u201d Hiemstra said.<\/p>\n \u201cAround 80% of all the plastics that [have ever been] produced are still on the planet right now somewhere.\u201d<\/p>\n Plastic can take 20 to 500 years to decompose and according to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development only 9% of plastic is actually recycled.<\/p>\n Hiemstra said we were more aware of the dangers of single-use plastic, but the research showed damning evidence of damage that had already been done.<\/p>\n \u201cWe all know that plastic does not fall apart \u2013 in the 50s it was praised that this material does not fall apart. Now, we are a little bit afraid because it does not fall apart. Our thinking about plastics has really changed.<\/p>\n \u201cWe know that it doesn\u2019t fall apart but finding these materials that have been littered 30 years ago, yet they look as fresh as they were just littered yesterday; that really gave me the chills. This material is really here to stay.\u201d<\/p>\n This article<\/a> by Rachel Keenan was first published by The Guardian on 4 April 2025. Lead Image: A Eurasian coot on a plastic-filled nest in Amsterdam. Photograph: Auke-Florian Hiemstra.<\/i><\/p>\n Wildlife continues to face threats, which include hunting, poaching, illegal trade in animal products, habitat loss as well as a rapidly changing climate.<\/p>\n Become a Wildlife Champion today by supporting our conservation partners<\/a> with a monthly donation as little as $1.<\/p>\nWhat you can do<\/h2>\n