Seabird Found With Record 894 Plastic Pieces in Stomach

Researchers were astonished to discover 894 pieces of plastic, weighing 64.21 grams, inside a single Flesh-footed Shearwater. This amount represents about 10% of the bird's average body weight and is equivalent to a human consuming nearly 18 pounds of plastic. The findings were published in the scientific journal Earth's Future by the American Geophysical Union.

Dr. Alex Bond, lead curator of birds at the Natural History Museum in London, monitored plastic content in shearwaters near Lord Howe Island, east of Australia, for 16 years. While the percentage of birds with plastic in their systems remained stable at 75-85%, the number of plastic items per bird saw a dramatic increase in the last three years. In 2023, one bird had 403 pieces, followed by 406 in 2024, and the record-breaking 894 in 2025. In 2026, another bird held 644 pieces weighing 67.4 grams.

"When we found 276 pieces of plastic in one bird, we thought it couldn't get any worse," Dr. Bond stated, noting their previous assumptions about a bird's capacity were incorrect. He expressed concern that the plastic crisis is worsening, and efforts to combat it are insufficient. The researchers hypothesize that adult birds struggling to find food due to climate change and overfishing may mistake floating plastic for prey and feed it to their chicks.

The most common plastic items found were bottle caps and nurdles, the raw material for most plastic products. Nurdles are particularly concerning as they absorb toxins from the water, acting like sponges that transfer pollution up the food chain. While international efforts to create a binding treaty to reduce plastic use have stalled, researchers point to regional successes like a cleanup operation near Melbourne that reduced nurdles by 77% and European regulations requiring bottle caps to remain attached to bottles. Notably, Israel currently lacks similar regulations for bottle caps.

The study highlights the value of monitoring seabirds, as their extensive foraging ranges make them reliable indicators of ocean pollution far from shore. The researchers emphasize that even without a global treaty, regional agreements and regulations can yield significant positive results in mitigating plastic pollution.