In swathes of fractured colours
you wheel across unbroken skies,
a kaleidoscope of memory
drifting between seasons;
patterns shifting sensitively
to the subtleties of scale.
 
Captured in synthetic mist nests,
we sift your shifting patterns
from the shimmering rains;
avian constellations that
have become littered with
lapses in ecological cadence.
 
Warming skies conduct untimely beats,
as vegetation and insects
emerge out of step
with the rhythm of your migration;
A still and muted future of
barren skies and empty nests.
Massive bird migration of the black vulture to South America, flying above Panama (Image Credit: Bernal Saborio).
This poem is inspired by recent research, which has found that climate change is affecting the timing of bird migration on a