Dim the Lights, Good People

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Small voyager,

you follow the stars

to find your way home

to your rookeries

to lay your single, precious egg.

Your baby,

moving to ancient ways of knowing,

will follow the moon out to sea,

when its life begins.

Dim, dim the lights

along the coast,

good people, 

so puffins

can see

the moon.

I saw a news item about puffins being confused by our lights along the coastline., which are impacting their natural migration patterns. Puffins return to their birthplace to lay their precious single egg with the same partner. When hatched, the puffling (cute!) follows the moon out to sea, to begin its life. When it follows our lights instead, it gets trapped inland. It can't live four days without food. I am heartened to discover there is a Puffin Patrol in Newfoundland, which drives around looking for stranded puffins, returning them to the sea. They have rescued two thousand babies so far. They also encourage people along the coast to turn off their lights during the summer fledgling season. 

source: Parallel Magazine