January 22, 2016

"Massive rubbish dumps and sprawling landfills have led some birds to give up on migration."

"Instead of flying thousands of miles in search of food, they make the waste sites their winter feeding grounds."
“For the birds it is a very convenient way to get food. There are huge clusters of organic waste they can feed on,” said [Andrea Flack at the Max Planck Institute for Ornithology in Radolfzell]. The meals are not particularly appetising, or even safe. Much of the waste is discarded chicken heads and rotten meat, mixed in with other human detritus such as nappies, plastic bags and old toys.

14 comments:

rhhardin said...

I was visited by a lone seagull one snowy cold winter. I'd put out a can of tuna on the snow in the yard and he'd walk over and eat it, for a couple of weeks.

Seagulls are very rare here, so I don't know how he showed up.

Seagulls sound like an umbrella up close, as their feathers rustle.

Unknown said...

This may be a reason we cannot get rid of our politicians-of-prey from their Washington and city jobs. We need to clean up our acts and not let them pick us clean.

Hagar said...

Seagulls are the rats of the sky.

madAsHell said...

We have Canadian geese that never leave the park by the lake. I believe they hang around because the park has no predators, and the safety of the water.

Sebastian said...

I think there's a word for it. Lemme think. Got it: adaptation. Before you know it, they'll evolve into a superior species.

Fritz said...

Blogger madAsHell said...
We have Canadian geese that never leave the park by the lake. I believe they hang around because the park has no predators, and the safety of the water.

Canada Geese that refuse to migrate are a major nuisance here in Maryland. I like seagulls. They show us where to fish.

Ambrose said...

Sounds like a win-win to me, but what do I know.

eddie willers said...

Its how generations grow dependent on welfare.

Adamsunderground said...

Birds have always drank surface water, whether it be fair or fowl

Unknown said...

Eddie Willers, bulls-eye!
And soon we'll hear about unusual bird diseases due to the kinds of rotten food they're eating.

Craig Landon said...

As long as the odd commercial chicken or turkey farmer doesn't get inspired by this...

Gordon Scott said...

To us, it's rotting food. To the bird, it's a delightful buffet with an ever changing array of delicious items.

Wince said...

Really, by weight or volume, how much of a landfill dump is comprised of "discarded chicken heads"?

He's just trying to freak us out with some disgusting image of bird decapitation cannibalism.

As in if you don't care about one domesticated bird having his head cut off, maybe you'll care about another wild bird skipping migration to eat it.

Fernandinande said...

"birds following the most traditional migration routes were more likely to die than groups of German storks that flew only as far as northern Morocco, and spent the winter there on rubbish dumps."

The horror of birds doing something different and benefiting from it.