The Song Of The Curlew Is With Me Today Poem by Francis Duggan

The song of the curlew is with me today
In McCloughlins beach in South Gippsland from here far away
His beautiful fluting I fancy I hear
In the calm of the morning melodious and clear.

When the nesting birds of the south do whistle and sing
They fly from north east Asia to South Gippsland in Spring
Above the mudflats by the ocean in the sunny sky
How lovely to hear them piping as they fly.

With their long curved bills they probe for their food in the soft sandy ground
And when in the mood for song they take to sky and whilst flying around
The pleasant sound of their beautiful flute like melodies
Echoes in the sky in the warm coastal breeze.

Tall and slightly gray to brown birds as most curlews are
To get to South Gippsland they do travel far
And to the northern Spring they fly home to breed
A migratory existence they are born to lead.