2119. The little grey warbler

Maybe you don’t know what a grey warbler is. I am a grey warbler. I’m a bird. I’m grey and I warble. I want to tell you what happened to me and my partner last spring.

Together we built a little nest. It was a hanging, enclosed nest. I laid four little eggs; it took me eight days to lay them. They were white with reddish speckles. It was very strange because one of the eggs was olive green. It was very pretty. I was very proud of it.

Then when they hatched, the baby from the olive egg grew a lot faster and scratched the other three out of the nest and on to the ground. We had a terrible time trying to feed the remaining baby; it was always hungry. Then when it was ready to leave the nest we realized something: it was a Shining Cuckoo. We had been duped.

I was so glad when several months after leaving the nest it took off to spend winter in Australia.

My partner and I, since the event described, made another nest. I laid three eggs this time and they all grew into the most beautiful birds you could imagine!

Click HERE to listen to the New Zealand Grey Warbler.

Click HERE to listen to the New Zealand Shining Cuckoo (not like a cuckoo at all!)

906. The little bird

Beatrice’s little black cat was a great hunter. Mice, rats, birds, even lizards, were part of the hunting scene. The little black cat didn’t simply hunt these creatures, she had to bring each one into the house to first show Beatrice, and then she would devour it.

Recently, however, it was different. The little black cat brought in a baby bird. It had obviously fallen from its nest. It had no feathers. It was no more than a pile of soft pink with a big yellow beak.

Beatrice took the baby bird off the little black cat. The bird was still alive. The trouble Beatrice went to feed the little bird and keep it warm! Beatrice even knitted a little nest and filled it with straw. Then she went out to the garden in search of bugs.

Quickly, over just a few days, the little bird grew feathers. Then it would hop about.

“What a little character you are!” said Beatrice. She called it Diamond. It was a wren. “You’re like a sparkling diamond,” said Beatrice. Feeding it became an almost full-time task. After several weeks it began to fly around the house.

Then one day Beatrice decided it was time to let the little bird go free. She let it outside. Almost instantly it flew into the branches of a nearby tree and joined other birds.

But what’s this? Why! It’s the little black cat come to show Beatrice what she has caught.

To listen to the story being read click HERE!

Poem 16: Songs my father taught me

A bird in a tree sings
the music off by heart
taught by its father

Its father before that
on stout and spikey branches
sang songs its father knew

The early morning light
seeping through trees and leaves
is inspiration

The modern bird
with no unplaced feather
introduces a wrong note

The cacophony of the times
echoes through early mornings
and gives no rest

Correct your note silly bird
and sing your father’s melodies
wrought in the time of dinosaurs

To hear the poem read aloud click HERE.

Poem 3: A single bird

© Bruce Goodman 1 November 2014

A single bird
once more easy in the air than me
buffeted now in cruel clouds
slumped over the sea

Fly torn wild thing
Fling your tears
Thunder to the salted wind

For tears are spray
Wings are clouds ripped by the beauty of some lonely truth

To hear the poem read aloud click HERE.