I found this Common Tern while photographing on a local beach this morning. Or rather, he found me and stuck close by. I suspect with that plastic bag around its neck that it could not fly far and needed to stay close to the shore. I didn’t spend any time trying to get close because I didn’t want to stress the bird, so this is a large crop.
Terns are seabirds, they are in the same family as gulls and skimmers. Many people think that because they feed and breed near the shore that they are shorebirds-they are not. They are also circumpolar. Knowing that they are circumpolar seabirds makes me worry for the survival of this tern.
The plastic bag fell below the bird’s legs and feet and at times. I watched as it tried to walk on the beach with great difficulty. It could fly but only for short periods. I think the bag is new as the bird seemed confused by it.
This is a great reminder of how people and their garbage impact the lives of so many small creatures. If you see a plastic bag, fishing line or any other garbage while you are at the beach—please pick it up, I know that many of you already do that. I called the local police department and they reached out to the SPCA, who will be trying to capture the bird to remove the bag. I hope to be there to assist.
It’s sad to see this bird struggle knowing that it’s next to impossible to capture a bird that can still fly. Years ago at Nickerson Beach my friend Grace Scalzo and I tried to capture an OC that had fishing line tangled around it’s leg. It could still fly and we could not capture it. Someone Grace knew ended up capturing it -bravo! but the bird did not survive despite our efforts.