american robin (photo credit: Alan Vernon)
Two conjoined robins who were rescued a couple of days ago have had an operation to separate them. The vet who did the operation discovered that the conjoining was caused by plastic litter rather than any birth defect.
The two robin chicks were discovered by a local resident Centerville, Utah, earlier this week. By being joined together the chicks had been unable to fly or fend for themselves properly. The resident took them in and a vet offered to do the seperation operation.
Skin and feathers grew over plastic waste.
The vet discovered that a small plastic thread had become entangled when the chicks were newly hatched and the skin and feathers grew around the thread joining the two together. The birds had hatched from separate eggs as normal.
Fortunately because of the way that the chicks had become joined both birds internal organs were normal. The larger of the chicks is said to be doing well. The smaller chick though had to lose part of it’s wing and was said to be in critical condition. If it survives it is set to be taken in by a local wildlife sanctuary as it will be unable to fend for itself in the wild.
Plastic litter is a threat to wild birds.
This is another example of how pervasive plastic litter is now in the environment and the dangers that it poses to wildlife and wild birds. Fortunately having two birds joined together is an unusual occurance even with the widespread litter problems there is now.
More usual impacts of plastic waste on birds are:
- Digestive blockage – pieces of plastic and plastic twine can look inviting to birds with their bright colours unfortunately they will block the digestive tract of the bird and cause it to starve as food is blocked from passing through the system.
- Injured throats – sharp edges from waste plastic can cut into the throats of birds causing loss of blood, inability to feed and infections.
- Entanglement – plastic can become wrapped around legs and wings of birds reducing it’s ability to fly correctly or even stop it from flying altogether if it becomes entangled in a secured piece of plastic.
As plastic waste becomes for more widespread in our environment we are seeing wildlife and birds using it in their nest building more often. This can be dangerous for the new hatchlings as evident in this case.
Remove your bird food from the plastic mesh.
This situation of the conjoined robins is also a timely reminder to look at how you feed your garden birds. It’s always worthwhile taking any bird seed or peanuts out of their plastic mesh bags and using a proper wire mesh feeder so there’s no chance of some of the pastic twine making it’s way back to the nest and the hatchlings.
It’s also worthwhile removing the fat balls from the green mesh bags and putting the fatballs directly into the ball feeder. Though most fatball manufacturers tell you to keep the balls in the mesh it is not a good idea and can hurt the birds or pieces can be carried back to the nest.
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