Mystery Bird Poem by Francis Duggan

As I walked on the sand dunes by the sea
I saw a bird a foreigner to me
With feathers black, pink feet and a pink bill
perched on a rock beside a sunlit hill.

A mental picture of him i did draw
At first glance he seemed closely bred jackdaw
But on closer inspection thought had proved me wrong
As his bill for daw seemed far too thin and long.

Just goes to show how stupid i must be
And what i know of ornithology
For weeks and weeks i pondered o'er and o'er
On what kind of bird I'd seen by the sea shore.

And then on a visit to the library
I opened a bird book and a photograph i see
Of the type of bird I'd seen and coloured exact same
And the mystery was solved and 'chough'was the bird's name.

And in retrospect it only goes to show
How little very little i must know
And it also prove that I've got a low I.Q.
But each day one live one learn something new.