On Seeing Sanderling Poem by Francis Duggan

From the Artic shores to Warrnambool in Victoria thousands of miles of sky
And the little gray brown sanderling that long journey does fly
And back again via coastal Asia to breed in the Artic Spring
The mysteries of Nature are such a wondrous thing
On the quiet beaches of Warrnambool in the warmth of a Summer's day
They eat tiny living things the waves wash in and from the incoming waves run away
Not much bigger than a sparrow for birds of their size
At the thought that they can fly such distances one might say a surprise
On the quiet beaches of Victoria in the Summer sun they feed
And when Spring is in the Artic they will fly north to breed
Their journeys a wonder of Nature from north to south they fly and back again to breed they go
The more we learn of Nature the less of her we know we know,
On a quiet beach at Warrnambool thousands of miles from where they were born
They eat tiny living things the waves wash in on a warm January morn.