Of Gray Fantails Poem by Francis Duggan

Where trees are abundant they prefer to stay
Birds i does see often though not every day
Slightly smaller than willy wagtail in feathers of light brown and gray
With long gray tails birds peculiar in their way

Gray fantails for them is an often used name
Compared to most other bird species they seem almost tame
From the low branches of trees they fly out and around
Chasing flying insects a few meters above the ground

Their long gray tails they often does switch to and fro
For to flush out flying insects this well may be so
From the gray of the dawn until moon rise
They spend most of their time chasing bees and flies

On low branch in neat cup shaped nest the female bird lay
Two to four buff eggs of palish gray
They do have a pleasant enough low chattering sort of song
From once seen and once heard one never again get them wrong

Familiar to many and familiar to me
Gray fantails are birds that i often does see
They rest and roost on bushes or low branches of trees
And are often seen chasing flying insects and bees.