Grey Butcherbirds

In the wooded park by the country town
I hear him singing just before sundown
One of the birds quite well known for their bubbling sort of song
Once seen and once heard never again to get wrong

Dark head, grey back and white unders and white tips to shortish tail mostly dark
In their range his type one sees often in wood or treed park
Grey butcherbirds for them is their common name
To be different from most others one of their claims to bird fame

Slightly bigger than a magpie lark in their breeding Season they are birds to fear
They will even attack any human to their territory too near
In their breeding time none to them a friend
With aggression their nesting site they does defend

To eat when feeling hungry during the day
On spike on branch they impale their small prey
With sharp hook on the tip of their grey and dark bill
Small birds, mice and skinks they do hunt to kill

In untidy cup nest of twigs lined with grass on fork of branch of tree
The female lay green pink spotted eggs of five, four or three
Within their range they are rather well known
And one can say of them they have ways of their own.