On Red Wattlebirds

Of red wattles, red eyes, yellow on breast and mostly mottled brownish grey

In parks and gardens birds one does see often though not every day

Red wattlebirds for them is their common name

Not the sort of birds that humans do capture to tame

Where flowering bushes and trees are them one often does see

These larger members of the honeyeater family

With aggression their nectar sources they do defend

Any other species of honeyeater they do not treat as a friend

With a cough like hoarse call and brief chuckling type song

From once seen and once heard you will never again get them wrong

In a flimsy saucer type of bark nest lined with grass on a bush or fork of tree

The female lay buff pink spotted eggs of two or three

Due to their nectar diet in any one place they do not stay

The red wattlebirds you see today tomorrow may be far away.