Environmental Songbook

Brown headed Cowbird

Music and lyrics by Linda Boyle

©2018 Linda Boyle

On "The Forest Island: Songs of the Black Hills".  Coming fall, 2018: two booklets of companion stories, content-area lessons (grades 2-8), color illustrations, graphic organizers and B&W coloring pages of the flora and fauna, water resources and geology mentioned in the albums songs.

"Brown-headed Cowbird" describes a cowbird whose gentle song belies its hard life and struggle to survive. 

Lyrics

Brown-headed Cowbird

c. 2018 Linda Boyle

 

Like the thirsty, dry Great Plains awaiting the falling rain 

Your song falls on my/our ears -  

a gentle, sweet refrain

Brown-Headed Cowbird, sing your song.

 

Your song’s a jumping fish in the middle of the lake

A gurglin’ brook rising over its banks

 is the lulling sound you make.

Brown-headed Cowbird, sing your song.

 

Its song came out of struggle, the struggle to exist

Orphaned by its mother & put in a strange bird’s nest

With no one to teach it how to sing and make a call

Brown-headed Cowbird:  You’re a mystery to us all!

 

While in its eggshell home, it felt each drop of rain,

And heard the ponds and lakes pelted by hail.

How does this brown-headed blackbird sing like

a waterfall?  No one can explain!

  

 

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