Low incidence of plastics in food loads delivered to nestlings by a zooplanktivorous seabird over a 21-year period

Abstract

We quantified the amount of plastic found in food loads delivered to nestlings in Cassin's Auklet (Ptychoramphus aleuticus), a small, zooplanktivorous seabird, on Triangle Island, British Columbia, in 1996-2016. The density of plastic in surrounding waters is moderately high, yet few food loads contained any plastic (3 of 850), and none more than two pieces. That result accords well with previous observations on the other four North Pacific auklets (Aethia spp.), leading us to conclude that true auklets rarely transfer plastic to nestlings. However, many hatch-year Cassin's Auklets found dead in coastal British Columbia, Washington and Oregon during the mass mortality event of fall and winter 2014-15 had plastic in their ventriculi. We suggest that these plastic particles would have been obtained at sea after fledging, perhaps while the birds transited south through a region of high plastic density off the west coast of Vancouver Island, Washington and Oregon.

Keywords: Cassin's Auklet; Food loads; Nestlings; North Pacific Ocean; Plastics.