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“There is nothing in which birds differ more from man,
Than the way in which they can build,
And yet, leave a landscape as it was before.”

Robert Lynd


Music: All Is Gone


I took a stroll with my wife yesterday
Along the shores of old Lake Michigan
And we suddenly spotted a tiny creature
That I truly hope we will get to see again

When I used to play here as a young boy
I would always see a lot of these birds
Today, they are woefully ‘Endangered’
And to me, that’s such a horrifying word

We immediately stopped in our tracks
And we silently sat down in the sand
I whispered to my wife to watch closely
And we both witnessed a sight most grand

When this tiny feathered creature was satisfied
That we were not a threat to him or to his family
His mate and babies came out from behind a rock
Watching them rushing all about was a sight to see

They all now eagerly raced along the sandy shore
In search of tiny worms and life-sustaining insects
Once, there were thousands of them on this beach
And now, their numbers are so sadly, near the end

Unlike many other types of Earth’s winged creatures
These tiny shorebirds nest and lay their eggs, in sand
Which makes them extremely vulnerable to predators
And very sadly, they are losing their nesting areas to man

Modern day shoreline development and human traffic
Have left them fewer places to live and to raise families
The family we were watching are called ‘Piping Plovers’
The size of sparrows, and sighting these, filled me with glee

All the many varieties of wondrous shorebirds today
On the Great Lakes, and on America’s ocean coasts
Are horrendously losing their battles for nesting space
They are among the many creatures I will miss the most

It saddens me, more and more,
What we have done to our planet;
In the last 50 years, so much is gone,
We disrespect life, and take it for granted.


©Spring 2014, Mr. Ed