Predators

Food scraps attract predators, such as skunks, foxes, and feral cats. These animals then prey upon shore-nesting birds such as American Oystercatchers and the threatened Piping Plover. Nest predation is a major threat to the Piping Plover.

Entanglement

Fishing line, netting and string can entangle birds' wings and feet. As they struggle to get free, they get even more entangled and can drown, starve or strangulate. Six pack rings are especially hazardous to diving birds and surface feeders. Nearly invisible in the water, birds such as the Common Loon can dive through them and get them stuck around their beaks or necks. Osprey and other birds will use fishing line in their nests, creating a hazard for their nestlings. In the 2005 Rhode Island Coastal Cleanup, two entangled birds were found on the shore.

Ingestion

Birds can mistake debris for food, and ingesting it can cause internal injury. Indigestible trash often remains in the stomach of the bird, and reduced stomach capacity can lead to malnourishment and death. Forty-four percent of seabird species have been documented as ingesting marine debris. Plastic, which floats and does not easily degrade, is often consumed. Birds especially prone to eating plastic are surface feeders such as albatrosses, petrels, and shearwaters; and plankton-feeding divers such as auklets and puffins. Albatrosses are commonly found with stomachs full of plastic, and one study found 98 percent of fulmars had plastic in their stomachs-an average of 31 pieces in each bird.

What can you do?

• Don't litter. Come to the beach prepared to pack out what you pack in. Remember that litter thrown away on land often finds its way to the ocean, through wind or rivers or storm drains.
• Clean up litter. Pick it up when you see it, and join your local Coastal Cleanup.
• Educate others. Teach your children to be responsible for their trash. Let people know that it hurts to litter!