On Seeing Yellow Tailed Black Cockies Poem by Francis Duggan

Four parrot like birds crying in the darkening sky
Too dark to recognize with naked eye
But by their calls which sound much like 'wee yu'
Those birds are yellow tailed black Cockatoo.

They make their nest high up in hollow of old tree
Two babes at most though only one survive
The ways of Nature oft times can be cruel
And the weak must perish for the strong to thrive.

With yellow stripes on tail and mostly brownish dark
They eat the seeds of hakea and pine
And with their strong beaks from eucalypt they strip the bark
In search of white grubs on which they love to dine.

It's been said that yellow tailed cockies are rare
But only last week I can well recall
I've counted up to five at Ferny Creek
Perched on mountain ash near thirty metres tall.

On cold and wintery evening in july
I hear their calls which sound much like 'wee yu'
Four dark brown birds in darkening evening sky
The voice of yellow tailed black cockatoo.