The Gray Blobs of Darwin

Verse 1

Binoculars

Heavy

Lenses are blurred

Look

Up there

Is that a Great Knot or a Red Knot

Or just a piece of gray wood

Maybe it is just a knot in the tree

My neck is getting sore

Watching

Waiting

Why are they all the same shade of dust

They look like pebbles with legs

Small legs

Moving fast

Chorus

Oh the birds of Darwin are flying high

Way up in the Northern Territory sky

But I cannot tell who is who

Is it a Knot or a Godwit too

They all look like the same bird to me

Just different sizes of gray debris

Verse 2

Look at that Sandpiper

Twerking

Shaking that tail

He has got better rhythm than us

Now look at the Godwit

Bar-tailed

Long beak

Probing the mud for a snack

Is it a Bar-tailed

Or a Black-tailed

Does it really matter at three in the afternoon

Probably not

Verse 3

Terns

Twitchers say they know the Terns

They are lying

They are definitely lying

"Oh look at the angle of that wing"

"Notice the slight orange tint on the tip"

No

It is just a white bird

A white bird with an attitude

Looking at me

Judging my lack of knowledge

Chorus

Oh the birds of Darwin are flying high

Way up in the Northern Territory sky

But I cannot tell who is who

Is it a Knot or a Godwit too

They all look like the same bird to me

Just different sizes of gray debris

Verse 4

Sand Plovers

Greater

Lesser

The book says it is the beak

"The Greater has a slightly more robust bill"

Robust

That is a fancy word for big

But they both look tiny

They both look identical

I think the twitchers make it up

To feel superior

While we stand in the heat

Sweating

Confused

Bridge

Crimson Finch

Red

Plumed Whistling Duck

Whistling

Wandering Whistling Duck

Also whistling

Why are there two types of whistling ducks

One whistle is enough for any pond

Double-barred Finch

Owls

They look like tiny owls

Jabiru

Stalking the swamp

Honeyeaters

Blue-faced

White-gaped

Singing for sugar

And the Lapwing

The masked lapwing

Always screaming

Always angry at my shoes

Get away from my eggs

I do not want your eggs

I just want to see the Rainbow Pitta

The mythical

The colorful

The bird that does not actually exist

It is a myth

Like unicorns

Or a cheap flat in Sydney

Verse 5

Curlew

Bush Stone-curlew

Standing still

So still

Are you a statue

Are you a ghost

Stop looking at me with those yellow eyes

Go away

Please

It is creepy

Chorus

Oh the birds of Darwin are flying high

Way up in the Northern Territory sky

But I cannot tell who is who

Is it a Knot or a Godwit too

They all look like the same bird to me

Just different sizes of gray debris

Outro

Is that a Pitta

No

Just a leaf

Is that a Godwit

No

Just a stick

I am going home

To have a nap

Without binoculars

Goodbye birds

Goodbye gray blobs

Goodbye

Goodbye

Goodbye