UNWANTED STUFF

Plants and Trash

In the early 1900s when the cable was being laid workmen and their families made Midway Island home by planting familiar plants and some even brought parakeet pets with them.

Eventually as people moved the parakeets were let loose and now there is quite a population of wild song birds on the island. A sun-flower type plant called verbacina was also planted and like many invasive plants had taken over the island making it almost impossible for native plants to flourish. The native vegetation is best for nesting birds. Small Spit Island had been cleared of invasives and the planted natives were doing well. At the time of my visit to the Island they were trying to rid Sand Island of all invasive plants, especially the verbacina.

During parts of the seal research program when we situated ourselves in inconspicuous areas to watch the seals sleep on the beach I easily got bored. Every day after awhile I’d leave Kelly to watch the seals while I went down a small hill to pull verbacina. It came out of the sandy soil easily and I created mounds and mounds of the small yellow sunflower stalks and roots.

On Eastern Island we saw several dead birds, many with insides exposed. Sea birds have learned that anything floating on the water is edible and until a few years ago it always was sea life.

 Now people carelessly throw junk in the water. Plastic is light and floats and comes in all kinds of pretty colors. The birds eat it, then because they can’t digest it they feel full and after awhile don’t eat and die of starvation and dehydration. Cigarette lighters deliver a double whammy as they are not only plastic but also contain toxic fluid.

During my three week stay on Midway we cleaned the beaches each week. I was appalled at the tons of trash we collected and piled up. We found everything imaginable but one big hazard to birds are the often large fishing nets that break loose. None of the trash is from the island but from heavens know where from afar.  It floats on the currents and lands on the island beaches. It is an ongoing and time consuming problem to keep the beaches clean.It is also a good demonstration that everyone worldwide needs to be conscious of what and where they throw their trash.