I want a bird who's the queen scolopacid.
I want a bird who knows her niche.
I want a bird who's hell-bent onward,
Racing the storm 'cross the Solomon reach.
I want a bird with the right adaptations,
Who is fast and thorough
As she probes her mudflats.
She's been wintering in Auckland,
She's visiting Pohnpei,
She's touring coral atolls and their beach habitats.
I want a bird with a short face
And a loong beak...
I want a bird who wakes up early.
I want a bird who stays up late.
I want a bird with uninterrupted transocean flight -
Arctic sun twenty-four hours a day.
Her bill curves up like the arc of justice,
And her voice is a clarion on the shore.
She is fast, thorough,
She's probing mudflats.
She is foraging for polychaetes
Beneath algal mats.
I want a bird with a short face
And a long, loong beak...
I want a bird from the ends of the planet.
I want a bird who might fly astray.
At City Park she'll drop in accidentally;
I'll spot her there as the killdeer give way.
She wants a tailwind across the Pacific.
She wants a wind that will get her there.
On Waikiki Beach I'll sip a mimosa
While waiting to meet up with my favorite Limosa.
I want a bird with a short face
And a looong beak...
