On Hearing Bell Miners

On either side of the woodland pathway The dead gums without leaves stand gaunt and gray And bellbirds chirp on them all through the day And where bellbirds are you only see decay. A cold winter morning with scarce a puff of breeze And bellbirds pipe their tinkling melodies They live on insects, larva and small bees They find on bark of dead and decaying trees. These small green birds both sexes look the same And bell miner for them is their common name Like tinkling bells sweet music to the ear And the bellbirds sing for twelve months of the year. Teritorial birds the bellbirds rule by fear And other birds of their borders stay well clear And they even mob large hook billed birds of prey And chase every unwelcome guest away. The green bellbirds are one big family And in large numbers there is security And they search for insects on sick looking trees And where they live there's decay and disease. In Belgrave South on the high wooded hill The mountain air has a heavy winter chill And bellbirds songs the only sounds i hear Like hundreds of tiny bells tinkling near.