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This file includes albatrosses, blackbirds and crows, bluebirds and blue jays, buzzards, canaries, cardinals, cockatoos, cuckoo, doves, eagles, egrets, flamingos, geese, hawks and falcons, hummingbirds, kingfishers, larks and skylarks, mockingbirds, nightingales, orioles, ostriches, owls, parakeets and parrots, peacocks, pelicans, pigeons, quails, robins, sandpipers, sea gulls, sparrows, swallows, swans, whippoorwills, woodpeckers, and wrens. Also see Misc Animals.

Page Toppers

Bird's Eye View
Birds of a Feather Flock Together
The Early Bird Catches the Worm
Eating Like a Bird
Every Birdy Welcome
Feed the Birds
For Wrent
Happiness is Talking to My Parrot
Home Tweet Home
Lovebirds
No Vacancy
Snow Birds Welcome
Something to Crow About
This Place is For the Birds

Quotes

Child's Song in Spring

O bluebird and Robin,
O Catbird and Wren,
I want you to rent
Our bird houses again.

I'm lonely all winter
When you've gone away.
Your song is as welcome
As flowers in May.

Standing Invitation

(Pearl B. Segall)

The arrival of invited guests marks the
beginning of a long-awaited season.
Amidst noisy congeniality and rowdy arguments
by those long-remembered for such rude behavior,
they're warmly welcomed with
interest and absorption in their familiar presence.
Our seedy invitation is an open one, extended with excitement.
They come, in flocks and droves, singly and in family groups--
zooming down with exact precision:
amazingly able to zero in on remembered locations.
Winter has arrived!
Welcome, our fine-feathered friends.
Spread your wings . . . make yourself at home.

Official State Birds

Official State Game Birds

Songs about Birds

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Albatrosses

Quotes

Songs about Albatrosses

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Blackbirds and Crows

Two Old Crows

(Vachel Lindsay)

Two old crows sat on a fence rail,
Thinking of effect and cause,
Of weeds and flowers,
And nature's laws.
One of them muttered, one of them stuttered,
One of them stuttered, one of them muttered.
Each of them thought far more than he uttered.
One crow asked the other crow a riddle:
The muttering crow
Asked the stuttering crow,
"Why does a bee have a sword to his fiddle?"
"Bee-cause,"said the other crow,
"Bee-cause,
B B B B B B B B B B B B B B B-cause."

Just then a bee flew close to their rail:
"Buzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz zzzzzz zzzzzzzzzzzz ZZZZZ."
And those two black crows
Turned pale,
And away those crows did sail.
Why?
B B B B B B B B B B B B B B-cause.
B B B B B B B B B B B B B B-cause.
"Buzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz zzzzzz zzzzzzzzzzzz ZZZZZ."

Songs about Blackbirds and Crows

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Bluebirds and Blue Jays

The bluebird carries the sky on his back. (Henry David Thoreau)

The Last Word of a Bluebird

(Robert Frost)

As told to a child

As I went out a Crow
In a low voice said, "Oh,
I was looking for you.
How do you do?
I just came to tell you
To tell Lesley (will you?)
That her little Bluebird
Wanted me to bring word
That the north wind last night
That made the stars bright
And made ice on the trough
Almost made him cough
His tail feathers off.
He just had to fly!
But he sent her Good-by,
And said to be good,
And wear her red hood,
And look for the skunk tracks
In the snow with an ax--
And do everything!
And perhaps in the spring
He would come back and sing.

Songs about Bluebirds and Blue Jays

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Buzzards

Quotes

Songs about Buzzards

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Canaries

The Canary

(Ogden Nash)

The song of canaries
Never varies,
And when they're molting
They're pretty revolting.

Songs about Canaries

Cardinals

Blessings

(Rea Williams)

As rising sun strikes fiery jewels
In morning drops of dew
I stroll amidst the garden
To watch the earth renew.

The flashing vibrant cardinal
Trills his prelude to the day
While radiant beams of sunlight
Melt shadowy mist away.

He tells me it's a lovely day
With him I must agree--
For his joyous song of morning
Showers blessings down on me.

Songs about Cardinals

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Cockatoos

The Cockatoo

(Mary Carolyn Davies)

Green and yellow cockatoo,
Won't you let me talk to you?
Or if you would kinder be
Won't you come and talk to me?

Tell me all about the places
Where the children have black faces,
Armlets, anklets, copper rings!
Where the cannibals are kings!

Has a hungry crocodile
Ever met you with a smile?
Have you taken many a trip
In a rakish pirate ship?

Cockatoo, cockatoo,
How I'd like to talk to you!
But as you can guess, I'd be
Gladder if you'd talk to me!

Songs about Cockatoos

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Cuckoos

Quotes

Amoretti

(Edmund Spenser)

The merry cuckoo, messenger of Spring
His trumpet shrill hath thrice already sounded.

April's Charms

(W. H. Davies)

And hear the pleasant cuckoo, loud and long--
The simple bird that thinks two notes a song.

Songs about Cuckoos

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Doves

My Doves

(Louisa May Alcott)

Opposite my chamber window,
On the sunny roof, at play,
High above the city's tumult,
Flocks of doves sit day by day.
Shining necks and snowy bosoms,
Little rosy, tripping feet,
Twinkling eyes and fluttering wings,
Cooing voices, low and sweet,

Graceful games and friendly meetings,
Do I daily watch and see.
For these happy little neighbors
Always seem at peace to be.
On my window-ledge, to lure them,
Crumbs of bread I often strew,
And, behind the curtain hiding,
Watch them flutter to and fro.

Soon they cease to fear the giver,
Quick are they to feel my love,
And my alms are freely taken
By the shyest little dove.
In soft flight, they circle downward,
Peep in through the window-pane;
Stretch their gleaming necks to greet me,
Peck and coo, and come again.

Faithful little friends and neighbors,
For no wintry wind or rain,
Household cares or airy pastimes,
Can my loving birds restrain.
Other friends forget, or linger,
But each day I surely know
That my doves will come and leave here
Little footprints in the snow.

So, they teach me the sweet lesson,
That the humblest may give
Help and hope, and in so doing,
Learn the truth by which we live;
For the heart that freely scatters
Simple charities and loves,
Lures home content, and joy, and peace,
Like a soft-winged flock of doves.

Songs about Doves

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Eagles

The Eagle

(Alfred Tennyson)

He clasps the crag with crooked hands;
Close to the sun in lonely lands,
Ring'd with the azure world, he stands.

The wrinkled sea beneath him crawls;
He watches from his mountain walls,
And like a thunderbolt he falls.

Songs about Eagles

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Egrets

Quotes

Egrets

(Judith Wright)

Once as I traveled through a quiet evening,
I saw a pool, jet-black and mirror-still.
Beyond, the slender paperbarks stood crowding;
each on its own white image looked its fill,
and nothing moved but thirty egrets wading--
thirty egrets in a quiet evening.

Once in a lifetime, lovely past believing,
your lucky eyes may light on such a pool.
As though for many years I had been waiting,
I watched in silence, till my heart was full
of clear dark water, and white trees unmoving,
and, whiter yet, those thirty egrets wading.

Songs about Egrets

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Flamingos

How can you tell when a flamingo is tickled pink?

Flamingos

(William Butler Yeats)

See how the sacred old flamingos come,
Painting with shadow all the marble steps:
Aged and wise, they seek their wonted perches
Within the temple, devious walking, made
To wander by their melancholy minds.

from Pink Flamingos

(Tracy Byrd)

We got pink flamingos in the front yard
Picture window with a view of Wal-Mart
Blue-collar heaven domestic bliss
It just doesn't get any better than this.

Songs about Flamingos

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Geese

Goosey, Goosey, Gander

(Beatrix Potter)

Goosey, goosey, gander,
Whither will you wander?
Upstairs and downstairs,
And in my lady's chamber!

Something Told the Wild Geese

(Rachel Field)

Something told the wild geese
It was time to go.
Though the fields lay golden
Something whispered--"Snow."

Leaves were green and stirring,
Berries, luster-glossed,
But beneath warm feathers
Something cautioned--"Frost."

All the sagging orchards
Steamed with amber spice,
But each wild beast stiffened
At remembered ice.

Something told the wild geese
It was time to fly--
Summer sun was on their wings,
Winter in their cry.

Songs about Geese

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Hawks and Falcons

Quotes

Epitaph on a Blackbird Killed by a Hawk

(James Grahame)

Winter was o'er, and spring flowers deck'd the glade;
The Blackbird's note among the wild woods rung;
Ah, short-lived note! the songster now is laid
Beneath the bush on which so sweet he sung.

Thy jetty plumes, by ruthless falcon rent,
Are now all soil'd among the mouldering clay;
A primrosed turf is all thy monument,
And for thy dirge the Redbreast lends his lay.

Songs about Hawks

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Hummingbirds

Hummingbirds hum because they forgot the words!

The Humming Bird

(Emily Dickinson)

A route of evanescence
With a revolving wheel;
A resonance of emerald,
A rush of cochineal;
And every blossom on the bush
Adjusts its tumbled head--
The mail from Tunis, probably,
An easy morning's ride.

Songs about Hummingbirds

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Kingfishers

Kingfisher

(Anne Kilmer)

The kingfisher will sit still
Until
I have my camera focused
The picture composed
The light ready
To push the button . . .
Then
He dashes away again.
Which is why
I will be very happy to
let you see
My picture of where a
kingfisher used to be.

Songs about Kingfishers

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Larks

To a Skylark

(William Wordsworth)

Ethereal minstrel! pilgrim of the sky!
Dost thou despise the earth where cares abound?
Or, while the wings aspire, are heart and eye
Both with thy nest upon the dewy ground?
Thy nest which thou canst drop into at will,
Those quivering wings composed, that music still!
Leave to the nightingale her shady wood;
A privacy of glorious light is thine;
Whence thou dost pour upon the world a flood
Of harmony, with instinct more divine;
Type of the wise who soar, but never roam;
True to the kindred points of Heaven and Home!

Songs about Larks

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Mockingbirds

Quotes

Songs about Mockingbirds

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Nightingales

Nightingales

(Robert Bridges)

Beautiful must be the mountains whence ye come,
And bright in the fruitful valleys the streams wherefrom
Ye learn your song:
Where are those starry woods? O might I wander there,
Among the flowers, which in that heavenly air
Bloom the year long!

Nay, barren are those mountains and spent the streams:
Our song is the voice of desire, that haunts our dreams,
A throe of the heart,
Whose pining visions dim, forbidden hopes profound,
No dying cadence, nor long sigh can sound,
For all our art.

Alone, aloud in the raptured ear of men
We pour our dark nocturnal secret; and then,
As night is withdrawn
From these sweet-springing meads and bursting boughs of May,
Dream, while the innumerable choir of day
Welcome the dawn.

Songs about Nightingales

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Orioles

To Hear an Oriole Sing

(Emily Dickinson)

To hear an Oriole sing
May be a common thing--
Or only a divine.

It is not of the Bird
Who sings the same, unheard,
As unto Crowd--

The Fashion of the Ear
Attireth that it hear
In Dun, or fair--

So whether it be Rune,
Or whether it be none
Is of within.

The "Tune is in the Tree--"
The Skeptic--showeth me--
"No Sir! In Thee!"

Songs about Orioles

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Ostriches

Trivia: An ostrich's eye is bigger that it's brain.

The Ostrich

(Mary E. Wilkins Freeman)

The ostrich is a silly bird,
With scarcely any mind.
He often runs so very fast,
He leaves himself behind.

And when he gets there, has to stand
And hang about till night,
Without a blessed thing to do
Until he comes in sight.

The Ostrich

(Ogden Nash)

The ostrich roams the great Sahara.
Its mouth is wide, its neck is narra.
It has such long and lofty legs,
I'm glad it sits to lay its eggs.

Songs about Ostriches

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Owls

Outside My Window

(Joshua Pari, an 11-year-old Maori boy from NZ)

As I stare out of my window
Through the exquisite blue patterned curtains
I see a brown wooden fence
Next to a tall immense tree
full of hidden secrets!

A barn owl inhabits a hollow in the tree
when the sunsets along the horizon
the owl shows his self by broadcasting
a continuous message.

Above the owl are cicadas, and in the hot summer sun
they unleash their unceasing sound that never ends.

At the pinnacle of the tree is an oriole accompanied by a blue tit
the duet they sing together puts cares at rest.

Songs about Owls

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Parakeets and Parrots

Bird in the Hand

I clean the cage, replenish seeds,
Change the water, watch her needs,
In fact, obey the slightest tweet
From one imperious parakeet!

On the branch outside, the wild birds away,
And sing to me the live long day;
That proverb's fine, but by some quirk,
The bird in the hand's a lot of work!

I Have a Poll Parrot

(Christina Georgina Rossetti)

I have a Poll parrot,
And Poll is my doll,
And my nurse is Polly,
And my sister Poll.
'Polly!' cried Polly,
'Don't tear Polly, dolly'--
While soft-hearted Poll
Trembled for the doll.

Songs about Parakeets and Parrots

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Peacocks

Quotes

Songs about Peacocks

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Pelicans

The Pelican

(Dixon Lanier Merritt)

A wonderful bird is the pelican,
His bill will hold more than his belican.
He can take in his beak
Enough food for a week,
But I'm darned if I see how the helican.

Songs about Pelicans

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Pigeons

Pigeon

(Carl Sandburg)

The Flutter of blue pigeon's wings
Under a river bridge
Hunting a clean dry arch,
A corner for a sleep--
This flutters here in a woman's hand.

A singing sleep cry,
A drunken poignant two lines of song,
Somebody looking clean into yesterday
And remembering, or looking clean into
To-morrow, and reading--
This sings here as a woman's sleep cry sings.

Pigeon friend of mine,
Fly on, sing on.

Songs about Pigeons

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Quails

Quotes

Songs about Quails

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Robins

Auguries of Innocence

(William Blake)

A Robin Redbreast in a cage
Puts all Heaven in a Rage.

Robin

(Aileen Fisher)

I wonder how
a robin hears.
Although I've never
seen his ears;
I've seen him stop,
And cock his head,
And pull a worm
Right out of bed.

Robin

There came to my window
One morning in spring
A sweet little robin,
She came here to sing.
The tune that she sang
It was prettier far,
Than any I've heard
On the flute or guitar.

Her wings she was spreading
To soar far away,
Then resting a moment
Seemed sweetly to say,
"Oh happy, how happy
The world seems to be,
Awake, dearest, child,
And be happy with me."

Songs about Robins

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Sandpipers

The Sandpiper

(Celia Thaxter

Across the narrow beach we flit,
One little sandpiper and I;
And fast I gather, bit by bit,
The scattered driftwood bleached and dry.
The wild waves reach their hands for it,
The wild wind raves, the tide runs high,
As up and down the beach we flit--
One little sandpiper and I.

Above our heads the sullen clouds
Scud black and swift across the sky;
Like silent ghosts in misty shrouds
Stand out the white light-houses high.
Almost as far as eye can reach
I see the close-reefed vessels fly,
As fast we flit along the beach--
One little sandpiper and I.

I watch him as he skims along
Uttering his sweet and mournful cry;
He starts not at my fitful song,
Or flash of fluttering drapery.
He has no thought of any wrong;
He scans me with a fearless eye.
Stanch friends are we, well tried and strong,
The little sandpiper and I.

Comrade, where wilt thou be to-night
When the loosed storm breaks furiously?
My driftwood fire will burn so bright!
To what warm shelter canst thou fly?
I do not fear for thee, though wroth
The tempest rushes through the sky
For are we not God's children both,
Thou, little sandpiper, and I?

Songs about Sandpipers

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Sea Gulls

Sea Gulls

(Edwin John Pratt)

For one carved instant as they flew,
The language had no simile--
Silver, crystal, ivory
Were tarnished. Etched upon the horizon blue,
The frieze must go unchallenged, for the lift
And carriage of the wings would stain the drift
Of stars against a tropic indigo
Or dull the parable of snow.

Now settling one by one
Within green hollows or where curled
Crests caught the spectrum from the sun,
A thousand wings are furled.
No clay-born lilies of the world
Could blow as free
As those wild orchids of the sea.

Songs about Sea Gulls

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Sparrows

I once had a sparrow alight upon my shoulder for a moment, while I was hoeing in a village garden, and I felt that I was more distinguished by that circumstance that I should have been by any epaulet I could have worn. (Henry David Thoreau)

from His Eye is on the Sparrow

(Civilla Durfee Martin)

I sing because I'm happy,
I sing because I'm free,
For His eye is on the sparrow,
And I know He watches me.

The Sparrow's Nest

(William Wordsworth)

Behold, within the leafy shade,
Those bright blue eggs together laid!
On me the chance-discovered sight
Gleamed like a vision of delight.
I started--seeming to espy
The home and sheltered bed,
The Sparrow's dwelling, which, hard by
My Father' house, in wet or dry
My sister Emmeline and I
Together visited.

She looked at it and seemed to fear it;
Dreading, tho' wishing, to be near it:
Such heart was in her, being then
A little Prattler among men.
The Blessing of my later year
Was with me when a boy:
She gave me eyes, she gave me ears;
And humble care, and delicate fears;
A heart, the fountain of sweet tears;
And love, and thought, and joy.

Songs about Sparrows

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Swallows

from The Swallow

(Thomas Aird)

The swallow, bonny birdie, comes sharp twittering o'er the sea,
And gladly is her carol heard for the sunny days to be;
She shares not with us wintry glooms, but yet, no faithless thing,
She hunts the summer o'er the earth with wearied little wing.

Songs about Swallows

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Swans

Wild Swans

(Edna St. Vincent Millay)

I looked in my heart while the wild swans went over.
And what did I see I had not seen before?
Only a question less or a question more:
Nothing to match the flight of wild birds flying.
Tiresome heart, forever living and dying,
House without air, I leave you and lock your door.
Wild swans, come over the town, come over
The town again, trailing your legs and crying!

Songs about Swans

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Whippoorwills

A feather from the Whippoorwill

(Emily Dickinson)

A feather from the Whippoorwill
That everlasting--sings!
Whose galleries--are Sunrise--
Whose Opera--the Springs.
Whose Emerald Nest the Ages spin
Of mellow-murmuring thread.
Whose Beryl Egg, what Schoolboys hunt
In 'Recess'--Overhead!

Songs about Whippoorwills

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Woodpeckers

The Woodpecker

(Jean Mallette)

Where do you suppose
The Woodpecker goes
When he carries those
Little crumbs away?
Across the lake, and
Across the land,
Clutching in his hand
A parcel of hay
For his little ones,
The Woodpecker runs.
For just a few crumbs,
He spends all the day
Flying to and fro,
But ne'er will I know
Just where he will go
Each time he flits away.

The Woodpecker

(Emily Dickinson)

His bill an auger is,
His head, a cap and frill.
He laboreth at every tree,
A worm his utmost goal.

Songs about Woodpeckers

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Wrens

The Wren-House

(Evaleen Stein)

Yesterday I took my saw
And some bits of wood,

And I made a little house
Nicely as I could.

I put on a mossy-green
Little pointed roof,
And I cut a tiny door
That is pussy-proof.

For I hope some little wrens
To our yard will come
And will choose my little house
For their little home.

I shall hang it in the boughs
Of the apple-tree,
And I'm sure as rent for it
They will sing to me!

Songs about Wrens

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