I’ve Seen Every Bird by Jeffrey Moran

On south Texas coast, walking down a road. Along came a delivery truck, lumber for its load.
“If you’re headed for Aransas, come with me,” the driver gowled. “Have you ever seen so many migratory waterfowl?” “Listen, Bud,” I replied, binoculars in hand, “I’ve seen every bird in this here land.”

I’ve seen every bird, man. I’ve seen every bird, man. I’ve seen birds in herds, man. I’ve been undeterred, man, In my search for birds, man. I’ve seen every bird.

I’ve seen blackbirds, bluebirds, purple martins, gold finches,
Red polls, red starts, brown creepers, purple finches,
Turkey vultures, water thrushes, phalaropes, and widgeons,
Parrots, partridges, pelicans, and pigeons.

I’ve seen auklets, avocets, murrelets, and egrets,
Bushtits, godwits, pipits, and kinglets,
Grebes, gulls, chats, coots, doves, loons, jays, crows,
Cranes, ducks, teals, terns, and pink flamingoes.

I’ve seen yellow legs, yellow throats, yellow billed cuckoos,
Bobolinks, bobwhites, buffleheads, and curlews,
Turkeys, pewees, phoebes, towhees,
Roadrunners, sapsuckers, flickers, and a Carolina chickadee.

I’ve seen shovelers, plovers, gallinule, goldeneyes,
Albatrosses, condors, cormorants, magpies,
Caracaras, chacalacas, crossbills, orioles,
Kingfishers, kingbirds, and a chuck-will’s-widow.

I’ve seen every bird, man. I’ve seen every bird, man. You might think it’s absurd, man. I’ve seen every bird.

I’ve seen catbirds, cowbirds, frigate birds, humming birds,
Boobies, buntings, falcons, mockingbirds,
Barn swallows, chimney swifts, house sparrows, rails,
Night hawks, nutcrackers, razorbills, and quails.

I’ve seen barn owls, screech owls, ospreys, anhingas,
Kestrels, killdeer, kittiwakes, cotingas,
Knots, wrens, grackles, geese, prairie chickens, puffins,
Scaups, scoters, skimmers, skuas, dickcissels, siskins.

I’ve seen gnatcatchers, flycatchers, oyster catchers, horned larks,
Dowitchers, ptarmigans, spoonbills, meadowlarks,
Woodcocks, woodpeckers, warblers, vireos,
Cardinals, grosbeaks, tanagers, and juncos.

I’ve seen ravens, robins, snipe, shrikes, sandpipers, sanderlings,
Thrashers, thrushes, teals, terns, turnstones, starlings,
Mallards, mergansers, pintails, a titmouse,
Bald eagles, ovenbirds, grosbeaks, and a big ol’ruffed grouse.

I’ve seen every bird, man. I’ve seen every bird, man. I’ve seen birds in herds, man. Until my vision’s blurred, man. I’ve seen every bird.