On Florida beach, a mother bird was captured feeding its chick a cigarette butt.

Karen Mason, a keen environmentalist, captured the series of photographs while on holiday in St Petersburg, Florida.

The shocking images show a black skimmer finds a cigarette butt and after picking it up she feeds it to her chick thinking its food.

The chick runs away with the cigarette butt in its mouth. Karen said that the small skimmer could have died after eating cigarette butt but it is not known that the bird actually ate it or not.

Karen from Largo, Florida said: “I do not know if the chick actually ate the butt. I hope not as it might have killed it.’’

“These birds come together to nest on Florida beaches. There are no beaches in Florida that are not full of people, so they have to try and co-exist with us and our trash.’’

“These birds skim along the top of the water to get their food and the lower mandible is in the water.’’

“When it touches something the top one comes down on it. They don’t see what they are catching.’’ 

“I assume this one got this in a shallow area along the beach and didn’t know what it had.’’

Karen wrote in a Facebook post: “This skimmer chick was offered a cigarette butt by [its] parent. It’s time we cleaned up our beaches and stopped treating them like one giant ashtray.’’

After seeing the shocking pictures, social media users show the destructive impact of humans on nature.

One Facebook user commented: “Absolutely heartbreaking.’’

“Just sickens me…Plzz put your butts out in the garbage or put them in your pack if u don’t see a can,’’ 

“I smoke but never do I throw them on the ground… just disgusting think of our wildlife,’’ wrote another.