Rainbow Lorikeets Poem by Francis Duggan

The rainbow lorikeets make their nest high up in hole in trunk of tree
In old gum or wattle or blackwood maybe
Or any old tall tree with a cavity
To nest in hole runs in their family.

It has been said in unlined nest they lay
Two to three eggs of dullish white to gray
And though their nests far too high to climb to for me
Their eggs I have been privileged to see.

The rainbow lorikeets so beautiful to view
They wear the rainbow colours pink and green and blue
And you hear their harsh like calling as they fly
In small flocks to flowering gums nearby.

In Eastern Australia these birds are not rare
Where flowering gums bloom you will see them there
On higher branches taking nectar from the flowers
And chirping softly they spend their daylight hours.

On higher branches of a flowering gum tree
They are not very easy birds to see
But their numbers are in plentiful supply
And you know them by their chirpings as they fly.