Plastic 'death traps'!

A few days back, when I was looking out from my balcony, I found a bird caught in the  plastic wire net used to cover a balcony opposite to my apartment building. I immediately alerted the watchman of that building and he in turn went to the apartment to which the balcony belonged and released the bird. 

Again a few days back, a plastic  thread  caught in the plants I put on  my balcony, trapped a pigeon's wing and as it tried to  release itself from it, got entangled more and couldn't move anymore. I tried to cut the thread but the pigeon got scared, moved a lot and injured itself more. Then I called our watchman who climbed up the balcony wall and cut the threads carefully by catching it with his hand and releasing the pigeon.

So I saw with my own eyes how the birds are becoming victims to our 'plastic culture'.

These things happen everywhere in the world. And not all birds are fortunate enough to be found before something dangerous happens.

Now we have more evidence.

Image source: Google

New research reveals the impact of discarded plastic materials on young birds—with chicks dying after becoming entangled in synthetic fibers used to build their nests.

Scientists examined the impact of plastics and rope in the nests of land-dwelling birds, using white storks as a case study. As is happening in the oceans due to human plastic pollution, they found that discarded synthetic materials can be a serious hazard on land too.

The study, published today in the journal Ecological Indicators, found human-derived materials were present in 91% of 568 stork nests monitored in Portugal over four years. During a year of weekly checking, 12% (35) of nestlings became entangled, with many of those dying, often due to injuries such as necrosis and limb loss.

Nests with ANMs and examples of injuries caused by anthropogenic materials in white stork nestlings. Two nests showing the typical construction of a stork nest, built out of sticks and lined with grass; both contain a large number of ANMs in the lining. One with soft plastic and paper (a) and other with many ropes (blue areas, b). Entanglement in rope (c, d), leading to lacerations (d), necrosis and amputations (e). (For interpretation of the references to color in this figure legend, the reader is referred to the web version of this article.). Credit: Ecological Indicators (2025). DOI: 10.1016/j.ecolind.2025.113796

Soft plastic, such as plastic bags, was the most prevalent material and found in 65% of the nests. This was followed by synthetic ropes—the main cause of entanglement—found in nearly half (42%) of the nests.

Baler twine, a slow degrading polypropylene rope, accounted for 63% of the entanglements and was present particularly in colonies surrounded by agricultural areas.

The team, including researchers from the University of Montpellier and University of Lisbon, also found that white stork chicks in nests containing a higher number of ropes were more likely to become entangled and had lower survival rates.

The authors warn that as a common indicator species, the entanglement of white storks, particularly in baler twine, highlights a broader environmental issue not limited to that species or Portugal.

These 

 findings offer new insights into the extent of nestling deaths caused by entanglement, and highlights the urgent need to remove and replace hazardous materials such as polypropylene baler twine from both agricultural use and the environment, given its harmful impacts on nestlings.

This study suggests that the threat posed by human-derived materials to terrestrial birds may be far more severe than previously recognized.

This is a serious issue. These chicks get entangled in synthetic ropes when they are very young and the ropes slowly strangle their limbs as they grow, mostly legs and feet, leading to necrosis and amputations. They suffer a horrible death, say the authors of this research paper.

In Ukraine,  soldiers are finding nests with fiber optic wires from remote controlled drones. In the UK, several passerines, such as goldfinches and wrens, have also started using different color polypropylene threads to build their nests. People spotting empty nests at the end of the breeding season may have started to notice this.

We show that the impact of plastic in the nests can be underestimated because the negative effects of the ropes and other human-produced materials tend to happen in the early life of the chicks, at an average age of two weeks, and the deaths can go unnoticed.

The reasons for using these materials in nest-building are not fully understood, but may relate to their availability and the scarcity of natural ones, while some might also be mistaken for food, being inadvertently incorporated in the nests.

This study highlights that plastic pollution in terrestrial environments needs to be addressed and solutions to replace or safely discard of hazardous materials are urgently needed.

A death trap in the nest: Anthropogenic nest materials cause high mortality in a terrestrial bird, Ecological Indicators (2025). DOI: 10.1016/j.ecolind.2025.113796, www.sciencedirect.com/science/ … ii/S1470160X25007265