This bird's nest is made of candy wrappers and face masks. Here's what we can learn

Catherine Zhu · CBC Radio

· Posted: Apr 04, 2025 6:07 PM EDT | Last Updated: 2 minutes ago

In the metropolis centre of Amsterdam, a seemingly mean vertebrate nest tells an bonzer communicative of quality interaction connected the environment. 

It's constructed from unexpected materials, including sunglasses, earphones, fireworks and adjacent car parts. 

"It's a precise peculiar nest, due to the fact that erstwhile we started collecting this nest, oregon should I say, excavating it, we reached nest furniture aft nest layer, and with each furniture we went deeper successful time," Auke-Florian Hiemstra told As It Happens big Nil Kӧksal.

"So it turns retired this nest is benignant of similar a past book, and you could conscionable flip done it going backmost successful clip to the commencement of the 90s." 

The Dutch doctoral pupil conducted a survey published successful February focusing connected communal coots, a benignant of h2o bird, and recovered that these birds person started utilizing integrative arsenic gathering worldly for their nests.

In precocious 2021, Hiemstra came crossed a ample coot nest successful beforehand of Allard Pierson Museum, the biggest archaeological depository successful Amsterdam. 

Inside the nest, Hiemstra uncovered 635 artificial items, with the earliest furniture containing a Mars barroom wrapper emblazoned with a tiny FIFA World Cup logo from 1994, an lawsuit held successful the U.S. 

"It's conscionable chaotic to me, arsenic the wrapper looks truthful fresh, truthful new, truthful the colour pops. You tin work the text, yet you cognize by bosom it's 30 years old," said Hiemstra. 

Among the different items recovered were foil from cigaret packages, a summons to Amsterdam's National Maritime Museum and a number of accelerated nutrient remnants from McDonald's.

"For a portion … it benignant of felt similar I'm a McDonald's archeologist, conscionable studying wrappers and lids and sauce," helium said. 

There was besides a much somber discovery: astir 15 look masks from the COVID-19 pandemic were buried heavy successful the nest. 

What does it archer us? 

This antithetic postulation of modern trash has fixed Hiemstra much than conscionable a snapshot of the birds' nesting habits — it has allowed him to hint the biology past of the area. 

By analyzing the expiry dates connected the packaging, Hiemstra has created a "perfect timeline" of this peculiar nest site. 

"Like stratigraphical layers, geological layers connected apical of each other, being capable to get this afloat representation of astir 10 breeding attempts successful the past 30 years," helium said. 

"This nest tells the full communicative of the full past of this h2o vertebrate successful the city." 

It besides reveals however the nesting behaviours of these birds person evolved successful effect to the abundance of integrative discarded successful municipality environments. 

Traditionally, coots physique their nests from works material, which decays rapidly. But integrative waste, being durable and non-biodegradable, allows coots to reuse their nests play aft season. 

"Reusing your nest benignant of makes evolutionary consciousness truthful you tin conscionable reuse the basal of the nest of past year, adhd a fewer caller pieces truthful you person much clip to support your territory, to provender your young," helium said. 

But Hiemstra questions whether the man-made materials are the champion prime for the birds. 

He says portion look masks successful a coot's nest whitethorn supply a brushed aboveground for laying eggs, the elastic bands tin easy entangle the birds' feet, making the nest a perchance harmful spot alternatively of a harmless spot for their young. 

Hiemstra describes the nest arsenic a carnal manifestation of the Anthropocene, the epoch of quality interaction connected the Earth. 

He says it illustrates however lasting quality actions person been, from the emergence of integrative contamination to the urbanization of wildlife habitats. 

"If it's a bully happening oregon a atrocious thing, that is the large question of my probe — is it an adaptation to metropolis beingness oregon is it an ecological trap successful which they deliberation they tin usage [the trash] nevertheless they extremity up entangled and suffering?" Hiemstra said. 

"And that's a large question that I'm not capable yet to answer, but hopefully successful the future, I'll cognize much astir that."