The nest of this bird is made of candy wraps and face masks. Here’s what we can learn

In the center of the city of Amsterdam, an apparently ordinary bird nest tells an extraordinary history of human impact on the environment.

It is built with unexpected materials, including sunglasses, earphones, fireworks and even cars.

“It is a very special nest, because when we started collecting this nest, or I should say, I climb, we reached the layer of the nest after the nest layer and with each layer we went deeper over time,” said Auke-Florian Hiemstra How it happens It hosts Nil Kӧksal.

“So it turns out that this nest is a bit like a history book and you could simply turn it back to the time in time in the early 90s.”

The Dutch doctoral student conducted a study published in February By focusing on common footini, a type of water bird and found that these birds started using plastic as a building material for their nests.

At the end of 2021, Hiemstra came across a large thorn nest in front of the Allard Pierson museum, the largest archaeological museum in Amsterdam.

Inside the nest, Hiemstra discovered 635 artificial objects, with the first layer containing a bar envelope in Mars decorated with a small logo of the 1994 FIFA World Cup, an event held in the United States

“It’s just wild for me, since the wrapper seems so fresh, so new, so the color opens. You can read the text, yet you know by heart that it is 30 years old,” said Hiemstra.

Among the other objects found there were a sheet of cigarette packages, a ticket for the national maritime museum of Amsterdam and a series of remains of fast food in McDonald’s.

“For a while … I seemed to me an archaeologist from McDonald, just studying wraps, lids and sauce, “he said.

There was also a darker discovery: about 15 face masks by the Covid-19 pandemic were buried deep in the nest.

What does it tell us?

This unusual collection of modern garbage has given Hiemstra more than a simple snapshot of the nested habits of birds: it allowed him to trace the environmental history of the area.

By analyzing the expiration dates on the package, Hiemstra created a “perfect temporal sequence” of this particular nest site.

“Like the stratigraphic layers, the geological layers one above the other, being able to obtain this complete picture of about 10 attempts to reproduce in the last 30 years,” he said.

“This nest tells the entire story of the whole story of this bird of water in the city.”

It also reveals how the nesting behaviors of these birds have evolved in response to the abundance of plastic waste in urban environments.

Traditionally, COOTs build their nests from plant material, which decays quickly. But plastic waste, being durable and non -biodegradable, allow the coats to reuse the nests season after the season.

“Reuse your nest has an evolutionary sense so that you can simply reuse the base of last year, add some new pieces in order to have more time to defend your territory, to feed your young people,” he said.

But Hiemstra wonders if artificial materials are the best choice for birds.

He says that while the face masks in the nest of a folaga can provide a soft surface to lay eggs, the elastic bands can easily weave the feet of the birds, making the nest a potentially harmful place instead of a safe place for their children.

Hiemstra describes the nest as a physical manifestation of anthropocene, the era of the human impact on earth.

I say itCompare how long the lasting human actions have been, from the rise of plastic pollution to the urbanization of the habitats of wildlife.

“If it is a good or bad thing, this is the great question of my research – is it an adaptation to the life of the city or is it an ecological trap in which they think they can use (the garbage) however they end up being entangled and suffering?” Hiemstra said.

“And this is a great question to which I am not yet able to answer, but I hope in the future, I will know more about.”