Plastic ‘fossils’ help scientists reconstruct the history of bird nests

Common coot nests preserve layers of plastic dating back decades

A biologists picks out plastic from a common coot nest.

Biologist Auke-Florian Hiemstra excavates a common coot nest he and colleagues collected in Amsterdam. City birds have been making their nests out of plastic waste for decades, the team's research shows.

Auke-Florian Hiemstra

One man’s trash is a common coot’s treasure, at least when it comes to plastic.