Photographer discovers sad detail in images taken at Aussie lake
Can you spot the dumped rubbish in these three photographs of birds?
An Aussie photographer made a grim discovery after returning home from a day out at an increasingly popular lake. Surprisingly it wasn’t just wild birds that featured in three of his pictures, in the background there were signs of careless human activity – dumped rubbish.
Behind two images of spoonbills a plastic bag and a can are seen fouling the environment, while a shot of little black cormorants drying themselves by the water’s edge also inadvertently features a glass bottle.
“I didn’t realise two out of the three photos had litter in them until I was sitting in front of the computer looking at them later,” Perth photographer Michael Phillips told Yahoo News. “There’s one there with colourful plastic bags that I noticed when I was taking the photo. But the other two – showing the can and the bottle buried – I hadn’t seen.”
Phillips has been taking photographs of birdlife around Tomato Lake, southeast of Perth, for around a decade. During that time he’s noticed an increase in the amount of rubbish dumped around the area. “I’m not sure there is actually more litter, or if it’s just because the water levels are so low that it’s becoming more obvious,” he said.
Why Aussies need to stop dumping rubbish
While most of Perth’s nature-loving community do the right thing and bin their rubbish, there are some who carelessly discard it because they’re unaware of its impact.
“We need to make the average person aware that it can impact wildlife. In my photos the birds are quite happily moving around the litter, but we do regularly get birds having six-pack ring holders around their necks, or caught in fishing line,” he said. “It doesn’t take any more effort to drop it in the bin or take it home with you, than drop it on the ground.”
Hoping to spread awareness about the problems littering can cause, Phillips has shared his images to social media with a caption reading, “These three photos have something in common”.
Reactions to his post indicate others are also fed up with Australia’s litter problem. “Plastic junk fouling waterways,” one person wrote. “Litter! Why does it have to happen?” another person lamented. Others responded by saying they regularly pick up other people’s litter.
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