Superb fairy-wrens are also known as blue wrens, they live as a family group.
Fairy-wrens have weak powers of flight but have long legs and spend most of their time on the ground or in shrubs, progressing in a series of hops as they gather food.
In families of superb fairy-wrens it seems that fathers get all the good looks. The dazzling blue feathers on the breeding male’s head, neck and tail. Somewhere nearby will be a group of small brown birds. These are the females, and ‘stay at home’ children of previous broods.
Stolen Sky
By Sioban Timmer
Fairy Wren upon a branch
I love to watch you skip and prance
Your colour stolen from the sky
A summer moment dancing by
Your partner with her feathers brown
Is no less pretty as she bounds
Perhaps because you make the pair
Of sky and earth together there
So Fairy Wren please stay a while
Lift my heart and make me smile
Though even once you hop away
A hint of summer sky will stay
Author Archives: australianchildrenspoetry
Budgie ‘Blue’ by Toni Newell
Leave a commentThe Australian Budgerigar, (Melopsittacus undulates) nicknamed Budgie.
In the wild they are green and yellow with black scalloped markings. They are found throughout the drier parts of Australia.
In captivity they have been bred resulting in a wide variety of colours amongst which are blue, whites, greys and yellow.
They are a very popular pet and can be taught to speak.
They are around 18 cm in length with a wingspan of 30 cm.
Their diet consists of seeds, greens and fruit.
Budgie ‘Blue’
I used to have a budgerigar,
And his name was ‘Blue’,
He’d look into his mirror,
And chirp a song or two.
At night his cage was covered,
We’d teach him how to speak,
Constantly repeating,
“Pretty boy”, many times a week.
Finally one morning,
Blue was on his swing,
Saying “pretty boy, pretty boy”
It was the greatest thing.
“At the Playground” by Katherine Gallagher
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At the Playground
(for Julien)
The March wind whisks against us:
my son, three, starts the roundabout
refuses to get on himself. Today
he has planned ahead, says it’s his turn
to push me, watches me on board
and I’m away. I enjoy being passenger,
store all this for later –
the afternoon’s lulled moves,
everywhere the air heady
and he in the foreground
racing his years, reminding me
to take care, hang on.
The ground spins, blurs; he begs it
with each command, checks
I’m not going too fast.
‘You can’t fall off,’ he says
smiling, assured.
I know it, this steady pace
contains us both, days overlap: he will perhaps
never love me more than now.
© Katherine Gallagher
“School” with Teacher Notes by J. R. Poulter
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Topics: friendship, peer group, clique, pettiness, bitchiness, ‘in’ group,
English: An innate object, ‘the door’ is used to express inclusion and exclusion, hands express a similar sense of isolation in “Novice” – compare.
Activity: Think of other innate/animate items that could be used to describe similar sentiments.
Study of society: Humans are tribal by nature – being part of an ‘I group’ or not defines who we are for most. It is a brave person who can stand aside from the group and be there own person regardless!
Activity: Think of people throughout history who have been truly ‘individual’.
“Face off on the pirate ship” by Penny Szentkuti
Leave a commentFace off on the pirate ship
One sturdy yellow captain’s wheel.
Two captains, toe to toe.
Legs braced, shoulders set,
No one’s letting go.
“I’m the captain of this ship.”
Hands pull to and fro.
“You can use the telescope.”
“No! No! No!”
Two fierce captains holding fast,
Leaders of the pack.
“Hattie! Ella! Come down now!
It’s time to have a snack!”
“Do Dolphins Kiss?” by Celia Berrell
Leave a commentDo Dolphins Kiss?
The dolphins swimming in the sea
make clicks and squeaks quite frequently.
These sounds move fast through liquid’s layer
compared to noises in the air.
Their clicks and chirps we can’t translate
but that’s how they communicate.
Not all their whistles we can hear.
They’re pitched too high for human ears.
They also sent out sounds to mark
locations of the sharks at dark
by bouncing echoes in the black
and timing when they’re getting back.
Since dolphins have to hold their breath
when swimming in the ocean’s depth
their voices aren’t from air that flows.
Instead they’ve lips inside their nose!
Their happy squeaks and chatty clicks,
those chirpy whistles, pops and hiss
like sounds of children’s playground bliss
are made from just a dolphin’s kiss.
“Dragon Breath” by Dannielle Viera
Leave a commentWhen icy nights spawn chilly morns
and frost festoons the ground,
I let my inner dragon out
to have a stomp around.
The crunch of grass beneath my feet
draws roars of wild delight.
But rather than a fiery blast,
my breath just comes out white.
Numb puffs of steam swirl to the sky
with every shout and snort.
This winter air does not play fair-
it snuffs a dragon’s sport.
“The Winter Season” by Margaret Pearce
Leave a commentTHE WINTER SEASON
The curtain of autumn
Lifts colourfully up,
Revealing performers and actors
And other such factors.
While a glittering gauze
of slanting rain
drapes a curtain of murk
over the choreographer’s work.
The orchestra tunes
and the music swells,
High pitched concertinas
of hysteria screaming.
The ballet builds apace
an intricate dance
of advances and retreats,
And entrechats and leaps
Pirouetting bodies
and high kicking legs.
Sinews straining, arms flung tall
towards the illusive spinning ball.
Victory floating in the balance
Soft shoed boots tilt and point
Towards the stage goals
Of white painted poles.
At last the finale is reached
And in grease painted mud
And lit by media evidence,
Is the troupe’s last appearance.
And that cyclops eyed monster,
that audience of critics and fans,
Shows clamourous appreciation
Of their players’ hard won accreditation.
oooOooo
© Margaret Pearce
“Rainstorm” by Katherine Gallagher
Leave a commentRainstorm
A single drop
plop plop plop
joining other drops
plopplopplopplop
plopplopplopplopplopplopplopplop
Suddenly the sky’s gone black and dark
as the rain keeps pounding hard
on the street, on the houses
battering windows, never fleeting
raining thicker louder quicker
in the city on the streets
water coming down in sheets
raindrops dropping, never stopping
until, until . . .
© Katherine Gallagher
Australian Children’s Poetry 