The Willy Wagtail

 The willy wagtail or black and white fantail

Once seen and heard to recognize you will never again fail

Of human kind they never do seem shy

Out of sight they never quickly fly

To flush out flies some bird experts say so

Their tails are ever switching to and fro

With some white on the eyebrows and white unders but mostly black

Small fly catching birds of courage not in lack

Against the odds great courage they do show

I have seen them mob bigger magpie and crow

Quite brave birds for their size of them one can say

In defense of their territory great courage they display

In cup shaped nest in fork of branch of tree

The female lay brown dotted pale eggs of two or sometimes three

To be quiet and shy in life is not their thing

They often sing at night during the Spring

To sing they do not have a marvellous song

But from once seen and heard one can never again get them wrong

The willy wagtails with ways of their own

Of fly catching birds Australia's best known.