The Mallee Fowl Poem by Francis Duggan

In the breeding season he work on his mound of earth and leaves
He heap up matter and then scrape some away
And then make hole for female to lay her eggs
The only part in motherhood she play.

Along with scrub fowl and brush turkey the mallee fowl
Are classified as Megapodes name for mound building birds
For decades now they have been baffling science
And for them ornithologists search for words.

As thermostat the male bird use his bill
If mound too hot he scrape some stuff away
And if mound too cool he heap up earth and leaves
And thus he work for hours on end each day.

On hatching the chicks struggle free of their incubating mound
And of their parent birds live independently
And how they manage to survive alone
Must forever remain as a mystery.

He has baffled science and ornithology
This game bird like bird of feathers brown to gray
During the breeding season he works hard on his mound
If not adding to it then scraping some away.