On Hearing A Gray Butcherbird Poem by Francis Duggan

On the blackwood tree on the roadside some mornings at Daybreak
The bubbling song of the gray butcherbird one never could mistake
A pleasant sound to wake to at the dawn of the new day
He sings to boast of territory before he search for prey.

With hook at end of his strong bill designed for tearing meat
The nestlings of the smaller birds to his taste buds taste sweet
He also takes mice, small lizards and insects and wedge them in thorns or fork of tree
For the defenceless and the frail he shows no sympathy.

I've often seen him with his wife in the early days of Spring
To each other they seem to bow as they whistle and sing
They form their bond of love and trust in their courtship display
In Nature's wild kingdom something new one learns every day.

Gray and brown birds on their stick nest high on tree the hen lays her speckled eggs of green
And in late September of the year their babies heard and seen
And on blackwood tree on the roadside at the dawning of the day
I hear him pipe his lovely song before he search for prey.