Bird poetry

I love to memorize poetry. For grades 1-5 that is all we formally memorize and after that it plays a key role in our memory work.
Right now our science is focused on birds and nature study, so David, Chelsea, Mariah and Laura are memorizing the following poem:

The Sandpiper
By Celia Thaxter

Across the narrow beach we flit,
One little sandpiper and I,
And fast I gather, bit by bit,
The scattered driftwood bleached and dry.
The wild waves reach their hands for it,
The wild wind rave, the tide runs high,
As up and down the beach we flit,-
One little sandpiper and I.

Above our heads the sullen clouds
Scud black and swift across the sky;
Like silent ghosts in misty shrouds
Stand out the white lighthouses high.
Almost as far as eye can reach
I see close - reefed vessels fly,
As fast we flight along the beach,-
One little sandpiper and I.

I watch him as he skims along,
Uttering his sweet and mournful cry.
He starts not at my fitful song,
Nor flash of fluttering drapery.
He has no thought of any wrong;
He scans me with his fearless eye:
Staunch friends are we, well tried and strong,
The little sandpiper and I.

Comrade, where wilt thou be tonight,
When the loose storm brakes furiously?
My driftwood fire will burn so bright!
To what warm shelter canst though fly?
I do not fear for thee, though wroth
The tempest rushes through the sky:
For are we not God's children both,
Thou, little sandpiper, and I?

Mariah, David and Chelsea are halfway through and will finish the poem this week. Laura will take two weeks.
I'm not sure what our next poem will be but I suspect it will be from the "Bird - Watcher" section of Favorite Poems. I've seen this book in the Sonlight catalogue many times and have considered and resisted buying it. I was at the local used bookstore recently and saw it there for 3.99, I just couldn't resist anymore. :D
During our American Revolution study I had Mariah and David memorize alternating stanzas of Paul Revere's Ride. Now they're finished and have the entire thing memorized because they were constantly listening to each other recite. They were both very impressed when they learnt they new the whole thing!