7-year-old Miles Phillips, the child sensation behind the viral hit song “Eastern Rosellas,” has hit a creative slump. The deadly H5 aviation flu strain has wiped out many of the birds that inspire his songs, throwing a wrench in his plans for a second album.

Miles was set to record a follow-up single about the giant petrel, but the discovery of the petrel's demise off the Queensland coast has derailed his efforts. Plans for a jangle-pop B-side about the greater crested tern were also shelved after seeing their carcasses on a Western Australian beach.

“I’m at a crossroads,” Miles confessed. “It’s not easy coming up with dancefloor-ready, power-pop bangers when your seabird muse is gasping for air.”

Despite his struggles, Miles and his father are working hard on a new track about the southern brown skua, although finding words that rhyme with “respiratory distress” is proving difficult.

Should the bird flu reach his beloved eastern rosella, Miles plans to rework his hit as “Putrid Rosellas.”