{"id":983,"date":"2019-10-03T07:26:11","date_gmt":"2019-10-03T07:26:11","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/thepoetryofscience.peachpuff-wolverine-566518.hostingersite.com\/?p=983"},"modified":"2019-10-03T07:26:11","modified_gmt":"2019-10-03T07:26:11","slug":"collapsing-birds","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/thepoetryofscience\/983\/collapsing-birds\/","title":{"rendered":"Collapsing Birds"},"content":{"rendered":"

Beneath shadows<\/p>\n

Of Spring Mountains<\/p>\n

The rain dove arcs<\/p>\n

Across a barren sky,<\/p>\n

Its trembling shadow<\/p>\n

Rolling listlessly<\/p>\n

Above abandoned towns<\/p>\n

Of silver and gold,<\/p>\n

Whose former occupants<\/p>\n

Drift aimlessly,<\/p>\n

Tracing invisible contrails<\/p>\n

With covetous, translucent fingertips.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Sinking in these sandy seas<\/p>\n

The rain dove plummets<\/p>\n

Beneath the waves;<\/p>\n

Fluttering to survive,<\/p>\n

Its moistened skin<\/p>\n

Glistens breathlessly<\/p>\n

Amongst rolling dunes,<\/p>\n

Lying down in<\/p>\n

Mourning beneath<\/p>\n

The throbbing heat<\/p>\n

Of our never setting sun.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
The Mojave Desert National Preserve (Photo Credit: Rennett Stowe, via Wikimedia Commons).<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

This poem is inspired by recent research<\/a>, which has found that heat stress from climate change has caused a significant decline in bird populations across the Mojave Desert.<\/p>\n

Last year a team of researchers documented a collapse of bird communities in the Mojave Desert, finding that almost a third of the 135 different species of birds in the region were now far less common than they were just 100 years ago. At the time the reason for this collapse was unclear, but the most likely cause has now been identified as heat stress brought about by climate change.<\/p>\n

Birds (unlike humans) do not possess any sweat glands and so are unable to sweat; instead (like dogs), birds can pant to cool down. When a bird pants, it breathes quickly, moving air across the moist surfaces of its lungs, throat, and mouth. This moisture then evaporates, absorbing heat from the bird\u2019s body, and each time the bird breathes out, some of this heat is carried away, leaving the bird feeling cooler. However, during this process the bird loses water, which must be replaced in order to avoid death via heat stress. The hotter the temperature the more water the birds must replace, and larger birds are especially affected, requiring 10% to 30% more water to keep cool than they did 100 years ago, because of the 2 \u00b0C increase in temperature that has occurred across the Mojave Desert during this time period. As warming brought about by climate change increases these evaporative cooling demands for birds, it will significantly affect future extinction risk, and has already resulted in dramatic losses across this desert region.<\/p>\n

An audio version of this poem can be heard here:<\/p>\nhttps:\/\/scienceblog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2019\/10\/Collapsing-Birds.mp3<\/a><\/audio>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Beneath shadows Of Spring Mountains The rain dove arcs Across a barren sky, Its trembling shadow Rolling listlessly Above abandoned towns Of silver and gold,<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":222,"featured_media":984,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"generate_page_header":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[72,18,300,77,262,29,2,414,3,58],"class_list":["post-983","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-science-poems","tag-birds","tag-climate-change","tag-desert","tag-global-warming","tag-national-poetry-day","tag-nature","tag-poetry","tag-poetry-and-science","tag-science","tag-water","generate-columns","tablet-grid-50","mobile-grid-100","grid-parent","grid-50","no-featured-image-padding","resize-featured-image"],"yoast_head":"\nCollapsing Birds - The Poetry of Science<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/thepoetryofscience\/983\/collapsing-birds\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Collapsing Birds\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Beneath shadows Of Spring Mountains The rain dove arcs Across a barren sky, Its trembling shadow Rolling listlessly Above abandoned towns Of silver and gold,\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/thepoetryofscience\/983\/collapsing-birds\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"The Poetry of Science\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2019-10-03T07:26:11+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/thepoetryofscience\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2019\/10\/desert.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1342\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"924\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Sam Illingworth\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Sam Illingworth\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/scienceblog.com\\\/thepoetryofscience\\\/983\\\/collapsing-birds\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/scienceblog.com\\\/thepoetryofscience\\\/983\\\/collapsing-birds\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Sam Illingworth\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/scienceblog.com\\\/thepoetryofscience\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/092b7455dba0c36ffa4f0346d93fc7ed\"},\"headline\":\"Collapsing Birds\",\"datePublished\":\"2019-10-03T07:26:11+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/scienceblog.com\\\/thepoetryofscience\\\/983\\\/collapsing-birds\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":384,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/scienceblog.com\\\/thepoetryofscience\\\/983\\\/collapsing-birds\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/scienceblog.com\\\/thepoetryofscience\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/3\\\/2019\\\/10\\\/desert.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Birds\",\"Climate Change\",\"desert\",\"Global Warming\",\"national poetry day\",\"Nature\",\"poetry\",\"poetry and science\",\"science\",\"Water\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Science Poems\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/scienceblog.com\\\/thepoetryofscience\\\/983\\\/collapsing-birds\\\/#respond\"]}],\"copyrightYear\":\"2019\",\"copyrightHolder\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/scienceblog.com\\\/#organization\"}},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/scienceblog.com\\\/thepoetryofscience\\\/983\\\/collapsing-birds\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/scienceblog.com\\\/thepoetryofscience\\\/983\\\/collapsing-birds\\\/\",\"name\":\"Collapsing Birds - The Poetry of Science\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/scienceblog.com\\\/thepoetryofscience\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/scienceblog.com\\\/thepoetryofscience\\\/983\\\/collapsing-birds\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/scienceblog.com\\\/thepoetryofscience\\\/983\\\/collapsing-birds\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/scienceblog.com\\\/thepoetryofscience\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/3\\\/2019\\\/10\\\/desert.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2019-10-03T07:26:11+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/scienceblog.com\\\/thepoetryofscience\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/092b7455dba0c36ffa4f0346d93fc7ed\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/scienceblog.com\\\/thepoetryofscience\\\/983\\\/collapsing-birds\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/scienceblog.com\\\/thepoetryofscience\\\/983\\\/collapsing-birds\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/scienceblog.com\\\/thepoetryofscience\\\/983\\\/collapsing-birds\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/scienceblog.com\\\/thepoetryofscience\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/3\\\/2019\\\/10\\\/desert.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/scienceblog.com\\\/thepoetryofscience\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/3\\\/2019\\\/10\\\/desert.jpg\",\"width\":1342,\"height\":924,\"caption\":\"The Mojave Desert National Preserve (Photo Credit: Rennett Stowe, via Wikimedia Commons).\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/scienceblog.com\\\/thepoetryofscience\\\/983\\\/collapsing-birds\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/scienceblog.com\\\/thepoetryofscience\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Collapsing Birds\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/scienceblog.com\\\/thepoetryofscience\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/scienceblog.com\\\/thepoetryofscience\\\/\",\"name\":\"The Poetry of Science\",\"description\":\""this is sixth form poetry, not Keats or Yeats"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/scienceblog.com\\\/thepoetryofscience\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/scienceblog.com\\\/thepoetryofscience\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/092b7455dba0c36ffa4f0346d93fc7ed\",\"name\":\"Sam Illingworth\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/9914dbd1cb2282a4bae913c68c562466ba8cce3f6f2a2cac50cd774b94d41315?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/9914dbd1cb2282a4bae913c68c562466ba8cce3f6f2a2cac50cd774b94d41315?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/9914dbd1cb2282a4bae913c68c562466ba8cce3f6f2a2cac50cd774b94d41315?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Sam Illingworth\"},\"description\":\"Sam is a Professor in Creative Pedagogies. His research is concerned with trying to engage and empower people with science, especially those from under-served communities. He writes science poems to try and communicate some of the beautiful and important scientific research that is being done on a daily basis, all across the world.\",\"sameAs\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.samillingworth.com\\\/\",\"http:\\\/\\\/www.linkedin.com\\\/pub\\\/sam-illingworth-dr\\\/21\\\/514\\\/90b\"],\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/scienceblog.com\\\/thepoetryofscience\\\/author\\\/thepoetryofscience\\\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Collapsing Birds - The Poetry of Science","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/thepoetryofscience\/983\/collapsing-birds\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Collapsing Birds","og_description":"Beneath shadows Of Spring Mountains The rain dove arcs Across a barren sky, Its trembling shadow Rolling listlessly Above abandoned towns Of silver and gold,","og_url":"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/thepoetryofscience\/983\/collapsing-birds\/","og_site_name":"The Poetry of Science","article_published_time":"2019-10-03T07:26:11+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1342,"height":924,"url":"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/thepoetryofscience\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2019\/10\/desert.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Sam Illingworth","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Sam Illingworth","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/thepoetryofscience\/983\/collapsing-birds\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/thepoetryofscience\/983\/collapsing-birds\/"},"author":{"name":"Sam Illingworth","@id":"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/thepoetryofscience\/#\/schema\/person\/092b7455dba0c36ffa4f0346d93fc7ed"},"headline":"Collapsing Birds","datePublished":"2019-10-03T07:26:11+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/thepoetryofscience\/983\/collapsing-birds\/"},"wordCount":384,"commentCount":0,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/thepoetryofscience\/983\/collapsing-birds\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/thepoetryofscience\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2019\/10\/desert.jpg","keywords":["Birds","Climate Change","desert","Global Warming","national poetry day","Nature","poetry","poetry and science","science","Water"],"articleSection":["Science Poems"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/thepoetryofscience\/983\/collapsing-birds\/#respond"]}],"copyrightYear":"2019","copyrightHolder":{"@id":"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/#organization"}},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/thepoetryofscience\/983\/collapsing-birds\/","url":"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/thepoetryofscience\/983\/collapsing-birds\/","name":"Collapsing Birds - The Poetry of Science","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/thepoetryofscience\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/thepoetryofscience\/983\/collapsing-birds\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/thepoetryofscience\/983\/collapsing-birds\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/thepoetryofscience\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2019\/10\/desert.jpg","datePublished":"2019-10-03T07:26:11+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/thepoetryofscience\/#\/schema\/person\/092b7455dba0c36ffa4f0346d93fc7ed"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/thepoetryofscience\/983\/collapsing-birds\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/thepoetryofscience\/983\/collapsing-birds\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/thepoetryofscience\/983\/collapsing-birds\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/thepoetryofscience\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2019\/10\/desert.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/thepoetryofscience\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2019\/10\/desert.jpg","width":1342,"height":924,"caption":"The Mojave Desert National Preserve (Photo Credit: Rennett Stowe, via Wikimedia Commons)."},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/thepoetryofscience\/983\/collapsing-birds\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/thepoetryofscience\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Collapsing Birds"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/thepoetryofscience\/#website","url":"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/thepoetryofscience\/","name":"The Poetry of Science","description":""this is sixth form poetry, not Keats or Yeats"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/thepoetryofscience\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/thepoetryofscience\/#\/schema\/person\/092b7455dba0c36ffa4f0346d93fc7ed","name":"Sam Illingworth","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/9914dbd1cb2282a4bae913c68c562466ba8cce3f6f2a2cac50cd774b94d41315?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/9914dbd1cb2282a4bae913c68c562466ba8cce3f6f2a2cac50cd774b94d41315?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/9914dbd1cb2282a4bae913c68c562466ba8cce3f6f2a2cac50cd774b94d41315?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Sam Illingworth"},"description":"Sam is a Professor in Creative Pedagogies. His research is concerned with trying to engage and empower people with science, especially those from under-served communities. He writes science poems to try and communicate some of the beautiful and important scientific research that is being done on a daily basis, all across the world.","sameAs":["https:\/\/www.samillingworth.com\/","http:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/pub\/sam-illingworth-dr\/21\/514\/90b"],"url":"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/thepoetryofscience\/author\/thepoetryofscience\/"}]}},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/thepoetryofscience\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2019\/10\/desert.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/thepoetryofscience\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/983","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/thepoetryofscience\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/thepoetryofscience\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/thepoetryofscience\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/222"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/thepoetryofscience\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=983"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/thepoetryofscience\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/983\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/thepoetryofscience\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/984"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/thepoetryofscience\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=983"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/thepoetryofscience\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=983"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/thepoetryofscience\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=983"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}