Plastic debris affects the survival of numerous marine species such as seabirds. Several studies have report ingestion and entanglement of seabird species in plastic debris but just few describe plastic presence in nests. Here we report the first evidence of a novel artificial nesting colony of red-legged cormorant (Phalacrocorax gaimardi) using plastic as nesting material in two major seaport structures in Northern Chile. We sampled 18 abandoned nests and determined that overall nests contained plastic: industrial polypropylene bulk bags (35%), plastic bags (33%) and fishing gear (10%). Plastic types differ among seaports, ENAEX (National Company of Explosives) seaport located near the main city contained plastic bags as predominant material while GNL (Liquid Natural Gas Company) seaport located near the industrial area contained bulkbag fibers. Further research should analyze debris in beaches nearby the nesting colony in order to assess whether red-legged cormorants have any plastic preference or if they use the most available in the nature.

塑料碎片会影响许多海洋物种（例如海鸟）的生存。有几项研究报告了塑料碎片中海鸟物种的摄入和纠缠，但很少有人描述巢中存在塑料。在这里，我们报告红脚cor（Phalacrocorax gaimardi）的新型人工筑巢的第一个证据）在智​​利北部的两个主要海港建筑中使用塑料作为筑巢材料。我们采样了18个废弃的巢，并确定整个巢中都装有塑料：工业聚丙烯散装袋（35％），塑料袋（33％）和渔具（10％）。不同港口之间的塑料类型不同，位于主要城市附近的ENAEX（国家炸药公司）港口包含塑料袋作为主要材料，而位于工业区附近的GNL（液体天然气公司）港口则包含散装纤维。进一步的研究应该分析嵌套殖民地附近海滩上的残骸，以评估红脚whether是否对塑料有偏爱，或者它们是否使用了自然界中可利用的最多的塑料。