The Darwin Bird Checklist

Verse 1

Binoculars

Strapped

Tight to my chest

Sweating through my polyester vest

I see a Great Knot

Looking like a small blot

On the mud

Near the flood

And his cousin the Red Knot

Who clearly ate a lot

Wait

Is that a Bar-tailed Godwit

Checking his plumage

Bit by bit

He just flew from Alaska

Without a map

Or a snack

Or a nap

Chorus

Oh Darwin birds

You're the word

Flying high

In the Northern Territory sky

Wings flapping

Beaks snapping

Twitcher snapping photos

Of your avian toes

Darwin birds

You're the word

Post-Chorus

Jabiru

Jabiru

Looking at you

Looking at me

Verse 2

Sandpipers

Running

Like they've got tiny motors

Avoiding the salt water rotors

Then a flash of red

On a grassy bed

Crimson Finch

Won't give an inch

To the Chestnut-breasted Mannikins

Who look like tiny feathered mannequins

And the Double-barred Finch

Dressed like an owl

In a tiny cowl

With a fancy fence

On his chest

Chorus

Oh Darwin birds

You're the word

Flying high

In the Northern Territory sky

Wings flapping

Beaks snapping

Twitcher snapping photos

Of your avian toes

Darwin birds

You're the word

Bridge

Now we enter the Honeyeater zone

I'm never alone

White-gaped

Yellow-tinted

White-throated

Brown

Blue-faced

Rufous-banded

Singing in the scrub

Looking for a grub

Or some nectar

From a floral sector

Every single Honeyeater

In a one-liter

Patch of trees

Verse 3

Night falls

The Bush Stone-curlew

Is screaming at you

Like a ghost

On a post

Masked Lapwings

With yellow face wings

Being quite aggressive

Highly expressive

But wait

In the monsoon shade

A legend is made

The Rainbow Pitta

Giving me a twitter

Green and blue

And a reddish hue

He's mythical

Almost political

I found him

I found him

I found him

Chorus

Oh Darwin birds

You're the word

Flying high

In the Northern Territory sky

Wings flapping

Beaks snapping

Twitcher snapping photos

Of your avian toes

Darwin birds

You're the word

Outro

Check that off the list

None were missed

Except maybe the Emu

But he's in the zoo

Probably

See ya later

Alligator

Wait no

I'm looking for birds

Just birds

Only birds

Mostly birds

End song now

Caw caw