A poetic flock of birds

Over the ages, birds have symbolized our sentiments and traditions. The stork. The dove. The partridge (in the pear tree). Can you identify these fluent fliers?

(1)

I don't need a megaphone,

My call can echo far from

home.

How fortunate and opportune,

For me to hear me still in tune!

(2)

I squawk

I talk,

I even sing.

I drop my head and fold a wing.

Aren't I the actor? And the ham?

To chase you off my eggs 'n' sand.

(3)

I glide. I glare.

From miles of air.

I swoop for lunch - a bass,

indeed!

A fishing pole I'll never need.

(4)

I'm stick and tired of living on lawns,

With just one leg to stand on.

A mower's a friend for only a day,

a clip, a snip,... then he's gone.

(5)

I've never been flighty,

But flirty, oh yes!

And squawkin' and talkin'

For crackers, no less.

(6)

They say I'm the source

Of a song I don't sing,

And a dive I don't do,

'Cause I'm too short of wing.

ANSWERS

(1) loon; (2) killdeer; (3) eagle; (4) flamingo; (5) parrot; (6) swan.

(c) Copyright 1999. The Christian Science Publishing Society