Monday, February 11, 2013

The Butcherbirds Of Birdsland

The bird with hooked bill and feathers of dark brown and gray
Sings on low branch of black wattle in Birdsland today
His is quite a musical bubbling song
From once heard the voice of the gray butcherbird would be hard to get wrong
In Birdsland the gray butcherbirds singing one often does hear
Their music distinctive  quite melodious and clear
The mouse skink or small bird that they do kill
They impale on a thorn and tear the flesh to eat with their hook on bill
Their butcher like behavior perhaps the reason as butcherbirds they are known
One can say of  them that they have ways of their own
Though the Yarra Ranges to me is not anywhere near
The butcherbirds of Birdsland i fancy i hear
With aggression even towards human they defend  nesting territory
Their bubbling songs once familiar to me.

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