http://www.birdforum.net/blog.php Free bird watcher discussion forum and photo, galleries. View photographs of birds in the wild, discuss bird topics, read reviews on all kinds of equipment and post your bird photographs in the gallery en Sat, 20 Mar 2010 01:41:39 GMT vBulletin 60 http://www.birdforum.net/images/misc/rss.jpg http://www.birdforum.net/blog.php http://www.birdforum.net/blog.php?b=3252 Fri, 19 Mar 2010 21:40:25 GMT Quite powerless to help it since I cannot swim
And it's chances of survival to say the least slim
It flapped it's wings desperately as it did drown
In the river three miles from the big coastal town.

On learning to fly into the river it did fall
To survive like us birds do need luck after all
A fact of mortality and facts do never lie
Is like people birds too in their young lives do die.

Quite powerless to help it with alarm in their cry
The parent birds in circles above it did fly
But their young one had stopped struggling in the water it lay
A would be feathered minstrel in dark brown and gray.

On bushes and trees the birds whistle and sing
On this sunny and beautiful day in the Spring
The dead magpie lay where the water is deep
And Nature for her deceased never has tears to weep. ]]> Francis Duggan http://www.birdforum.net/blog.php?b=3252 http://www.birdforum.net/blog.php?b=3251 Fri, 19 Mar 2010 21:34:39 GMT Those with good past memories they never are poor And with joy I recall the fields of Annagloor Where the Cails from Kippagh Lake to the Finnow flow Through old fields and by ditches and by many a hedgerow. The hawthorns resplendent in their white blooms of the May And the nesting birds whistle... Those with good past memories they never are poor
And with joy I recall the fields of Annagloor
Where the Cails from Kippagh Lake to the Finnow flow
Through old fields and by ditches and by many a hedgerow.

The hawthorns resplendent in their white blooms of the May
And the nesting birds whistle and sing all the day
The fields lush and green in their lovely wildflowers
And the sun through the rain clouds shines between the showers.

Though his not the loveliest voice of the Spring
In the river the white breasted dark brown dipper sing
And the male snipe at night o'er the rushy field fly
As with wings and tail he makes what sounds like a goat like cry.

In my flights of fancy I hear once again
The male robin sing in the wind and the rain
In the cool gray dawn of an Irish Spring day
In Annagloor where the Cails from Kippagh towards Finnow winds it's way. ]]> Francis Duggan http://www.birdforum.net/blog.php?b=3251 http://www.birdforum.net/blog.php?b=3250 Fri, 19 Mar 2010 21:31:50 GMT 'Tis we create our borders and our borders we defend
And we often make an enemy by losing a former friend
And that the Country owns us we struggle to understand
Since we are part of Nature we return to the Land
Of being wealthy and famous so many do daydream
But for so few such dreams never come true or so it does seem
Yet for rich and poor there's a last night and day
In the bosom of our Earth Mother our remains will lay
Like the animals and birds we proclaim our territories
Yet 'tis Nature we live off of her land and her seas
She supplies us with water and food and with our every need
So much food she produces from every tiny dark seed
We feel that the Country we live in to us does belong
But the Reaper proves to us such thought has proved us wrong. ]]> Francis Duggan http://www.birdforum.net/blog.php?b=3250 http://www.birdforum.net/blog.php?b=3249 Fri, 19 Mar 2010 21:27:21 GMT Perhaps I'd feel like a stranger in Millstreet today
And in Claraghatlea my old Homeplace far away
The people I know there like me showing time's decay
And our biological clocks ever ticking away.

The boy of the fifties now showing his years in gray
And time does not wait for anyone as some are known to say
The future unknown and we all have a past
And few things as they were ever seem to last.

But the old fields I once knew would still look the same
I recall that some of them had a given name
The skylark is carolling as upwards he flies
As I walk in the old fields when I visualize.

Where the Cails and Finnow meet and forever flow
To the Blackwater at Drishane by ditch and hedgerow
But perhaps I'd feel a stranger now as I'd walk up and down
The West End and Main Street of old Millstreet Town. ]]> Francis Duggan http://www.birdforum.net/blog.php?b=3249 http://www.birdforum.net/blog.php?b=3248 Fri, 19 Mar 2010 21:23:56 GMT The sun is not shining the sky looking gray But Nature herself she looks lovely today The magpie lark in the park is singing pee wee And honeyeaters chirp on every blossoming tree With scarce a puff of breeze and the rain drizzling down Bringing moisture to the parks and the gardens of town In... The sun is not shining the sky looking gray
But Nature herself she looks lovely today
The magpie lark in the park is singing pee wee
And honeyeaters chirp on every blossoming tree
With scarce a puff of breeze and the rain drizzling down
Bringing moisture to the parks and the gardens of town
In early October in the southern Spring
The territorial nesting birds whistle and sing
The song of the blackbird so pleasant to hear
And the pipe of the magpie melodious and clear
With the warmer and drier weather of late Spring and Summer near
The rain always welcome at this time of year
The nature strip by the footpath is looking quite green
And Nature herself at her finest is seen. ]]> Francis Duggan http://www.birdforum.net/blog.php?b=3248 http://www.birdforum.net/blog.php?b=3247 Thu, 18 Mar 2010 22:35:06 GMT More of a threat to human existence than the economic recession is the ozone hole in the sky That scientists claim is growing bigger as the years go by Caused by carbon emissions that cause Global warming by experts we have been told The climate is warming even in Lands known to be cold. Compared... More of a threat to human existence than the economic recession is the ozone hole in the sky
That scientists claim is growing bigger as the years go by
Caused by carbon emissions that cause Global warming by experts we have been told
The climate is warming even in Lands known to be cold.

Compared to climate change economic recession as a problem seems small
To human existence on the Planet the greatest challenge of all
Is Global warming which we know is Worldwide
Due to our greed for material gain we've put Nature offside.

This World is for us to live in not for to destroy
For the future generation every young girl and boy
We are making life for them harder for our greed they must pay
I hope I am wrong in this though it does seem that way.

The economic recessions they come and they go
And after every recession the economy does grow
But Global warming to humanity is a far greater threat
As it does seem a matter of life and of death. ]]> Francis Duggan http://www.birdforum.net/blog.php?b=3247 http://www.birdforum.net/blog.php?b=3246 Thu, 18 Mar 2010 22:31:52 GMT Above his breeding territory in the night sky with his wings and tail he sends out a warning as to and fro he fly To the males of his own kind those living nearby The sound that he creates seems like a goat like cry. Often from the bogland road on evenings in May In my northern Homeland from here... Above his breeding territory in the night sky
with his wings and tail he sends out a warning as to and fro he fly
To the males of his own kind those living nearby
The sound that he creates seems like a goat like cry.

Often from the bogland road on evenings in May
In my northern Homeland from here far away
I heard the male snipe in his territorial display
He drummed out his warning 'til the dawning of day.

The snipe of the bogland elusive and shy
When flushed by day low to the ground in quick zig zag flight they fly
For the small game shooter the mottled brown bird with the long thin bill
Is the most elusive of targets to shoot at to kill.

The whirring flight sound of the male snipe to this day I recall
Above the quiet bogland 'til dawn from nightfall
With his wings and tail he makes a goat like sound
As above his territory he flies around and around. ]]> Francis Duggan http://www.birdforum.net/blog.php?b=3246 http://www.birdforum.net/blog.php?b=3245 Thu, 18 Mar 2010 22:29:02 GMT A tiny dark seed to a great tree can grow
A miracle of Nature that much we do know
And Nature's miracles are many and her secrets not few
In telling you that I'm not saying anything that's new.

The miracles of Nature we witness every day
We see life existing where there is decay
Amongst the dead leaves that are strewn on the ground
Insects and slugs that live on decay are crawling around.

The Mother of Nature lives by her own law
Of her workings one only can live in awe
The life that she give she eventually receive
And for her dead children she never does grieve.

In Spring the pink blossoms on the fruit bearing tree
In Nature all around us miracles we do see
For our existence and survival to her we do owe
Yet so little about her we can claim to know. ]]> Francis Duggan http://www.birdforum.net/blog.php?b=3245 http://www.birdforum.net/blog.php?b=3244 Thu, 18 Mar 2010 22:24:20 GMT Since the last time I see old Wonthaggi many weeks and months have gone by
Above the scrub by Powlett River the lark sang in the sunny sky
The country side by the old coal Town I do see when I visualize
And on the bracken clad hill of Baxter's land I see the roos box at sunrise
A historical Town old Wonthaggi it's fame it is known far and wide
Where miners won their strike for higher wages and better working conditions in the mine where some of their comrades died
The mine closed down in the late nineteen sixties but it's history in writing lives on
And most of the old Wonthaggi miners like the mine to the reaper have gone,
In fancy I can hear the shrike thrush whistling on a black wattle tree
Between Dalyston and Kilcunda where the Powlett flows down to the sea
A place that has such an ancient history the old home of the Bunurong
In the countryside by Powlett river they had their corroborees and song
Of the old Town in Coastal South Gippsland such fond memories I do retain
And often in my flights of fancy I visit Wonthaggi again. ]]> Francis Duggan http://www.birdforum.net/blog.php?b=3244 http://www.birdforum.net/blog.php?b=3243 Thu, 18 Mar 2010 22:19:06 GMT I hear the monotonous cawings of the glossy pale eyed crow
And the sweet flute of the magpie where the Hopkins River flow
Through green and fertile coastal lands near Warrnambool to the sea
I love this grand old Country 'tis home from home for me
This very ancient Country that inspire story, song and rhyme
It was a very old Land even in the Dreaming Time
Where the Indigenous people had their Corroborees
In warm Summer evenings in the shadow of the trees
On the last day of September a near to perfect day
The coot and musk duck for their food diving on the Hopkins waterway
Such beauty that's in Nature that inspires writers to write
Stories and poems for others to read and to recite
Of where the Hopkins River ever slowly winds it's way
To the great Pacific ocean every night and every day. ]]> Francis Duggan http://www.birdforum.net/blog.php?b=3243 http://www.birdforum.net/blog.php?b=3242 Wed, 17 Mar 2010 21:13:35 GMT On the Burwood Highway cars and trucks buzz up and down
Through Upwey and Tecoma and the main street of Belgrave Town
Those cars and trucks that seem to multiply
On the mountain roads of Melbourne's outer eastern suburbs as the years go by
To Belgrave Town the Seasons come and go
And few there nowadays I can claim to know
On the hills above the Town the mountain ash stand tall
Compared to them most other trees seem small
In the high woods from mid Winter through the Spring
The lyrebird on his mound does often sing
The songs of his neighbour birds in his song he recall
In the World of Birds the greatest mimic of them all
In the place of many a giant eucalypt tree
Those hills that once were home from home to me. ]]> Francis Duggan http://www.birdforum.net/blog.php?b=3242 http://www.birdforum.net/blog.php?b=3241 Wed, 17 Mar 2010 21:09:33 GMT I can tell the difference between a finch and a crow
But few things about Nature I can claim to know
Yet learning of her creatures I thoroughly enjoy
And I've always loved her since I was a boy.

The more I learn about Nature the more I realize
That she is one who never ceases to surprise
And so little of her I can claim to know
Yet every day my wonder of her grow.

From Nature we learn new things every day
But her secrets from us she does hide away
'Tis not for a sense of joy the bird does sing
Since song to him is a territorial thing.

I can tell a wombat from a kangaroo
Or a kookaburra from a cockatoo
But of Nature it has always seemed to me
That there is more to her far more than the eyes can see. ]]> Francis Duggan http://www.birdforum.net/blog.php?b=3241 http://www.birdforum.net/blog.php?b=3240 Wed, 17 Mar 2010 21:06:59 GMT I do live far south of Hibernia's shore
And from Clara the old hill above Claramore
But in my flights of fancy I'm walking again
In the Claraghatlea fields in the wind and the rain
The robin is singing on the silver birch tree
The sound of his voice is familiar to me
And the white breasted dipper in his cloak of dark brown
In the Finnow is singing west of Millstreet Town
Primroses, snowdrops and bluebells on the ditch of the bohreen
And the old fields decked in wildflowers are looking so green
Such beauty comes to me when I visualize
Above the rank bracken the brown skylark rise
And like a small dot in the gray morning sky
He carols as up to the cloud World he fly. ]]> Francis Duggan http://www.birdforum.net/blog.php?b=3240 http://www.birdforum.net/blog.php?b=3239 Wed, 17 Mar 2010 21:03:57 GMT In the clear blue sky woolly looking clouds of gray The sun it is shining on a lovely Spring day A high of a warm enough 28 degrees With only the faintest sign of a slight breeze. Around the park flower beds and every bush and tree White butterflies flitting so lovely to see And on the park lake... In the clear blue sky woolly looking clouds of gray
The sun it is shining on a lovely Spring day
A high of a warm enough 28 degrees
With only the faintest sign of a slight breeze.

Around the park flower beds and every bush and tree
White butterflies flitting so lovely to see
And on the park lake baby ducklings are out
With their parents eating insects as they swim about.

Such natural beauty there is to be seen
After the recent rains the park looks so green
The nesting birds whistling on the bushes and trees
The balmy air full of their territorial melodies.

Out here in the park amongst the wild and the free
The beauty of Nature is all around me
And for viewing Nature's beauty no price for to pay
I thank Goddess Nature for such a nice day. ]]> Francis Duggan http://www.birdforum.net/blog.php?b=3239 http://www.birdforum.net/blog.php?b=3238 Wed, 17 Mar 2010 20:59:50 GMT Compassion for them the sheep farmers cannot show
They hate with a vengeance every silver back crow
Since of newly born lambs they do pluck out the eyes
Their hatred of them they don't try to disguise.

Distinctive to look at and distinctive in their raucous caws
And to the mountain sheep farmers feathered outlaws
Each Spring the presence of predators to them come at a huge cost
To crows, dogs and foxes far too many sheep and lambs they have lost.

Though poisoned and trapped and shot at as they fly
Their survival instincts of them none can deny
And though Sheep farmers to make them extinct their best they do try
Their numbers in some places seem to multiply.

For the mountain sheep farmer another poor Spring
With joy you will not hear him whistle and sing
Many lambs lost to bad weather the rain, sleet and snow
And the predator known as the silver back crow. ]]> Francis Duggan http://www.birdforum.net/blog.php?b=3238