Galahs on High Alert

B'H

Galahs on High

Feathery softness, pink and grey
Perched high on the power line
Two Galahs, best mates
Nuzzling close, friends, or more?

A beautiful sight from down below
Seen whilst driving, in the morn
Peacefully playful, tender, together
The simplicity of the moment

Two creatures in the wild
Loving, caring, bonding, sharing
Or a primal instinctive behaviour?
They don’t care, neither should we

A pair of Galahs, high on a wire
Oblivious to all but themselves
A reward to see, in pink and grey
Few finer ways to start my day

Penned by Michael Barnett of Aleph Australia the GLBT group.

My poetic reply as Michael ignores the reality of real galah behaviour. Galahs are flock birds that usually mate for life. If a mate dies, then the partner gets quite depressed. They do repartner as a rule. Boy galahs have deep brown almost black irises and the girls have pink. You are able to sex galahs around twelve months of age. Before that, you cannot tell the difference between the sexes except if you DNA tested them of course. Galahs in cativity will choose to adopt a mate from the people that are around them. They get quite depressed if this person leaves them. They are quite sensitive birds and bond easily and for life. Of course captivity is not a natural state and galahs do prefer their own kind. They are birds with great character and personality.

Simply is also titled

Galahs on High Alert

‘Don’t be a galah.’ We’d be told

As kids we were oft crazy and bold

Racing round  paddocks, making squawking noises

Instead of talking or playing quietly with toys.

So what is a galah ,but a social flock bird;

That mates for life so I have heard.

Despite the availability of many mates,

They choose only one with the right traits

To be their one true love, to build the best nest

For the eggs from whence their chicks will hatch.

But before they do so, they dance, court and test

That potential mate and gaze deeply into eyes to match

The colour and sex, for galahs may be galahs, but

There are no swinging fellows or even gay galahs I think,

Among the flock for such things set up a chorus ‘Tut, tut, tut!’

As the male galah fixes his lusty brown eyes on irises pink

Before continuing to groom crests and chests of soft pink and grey

In preparation, then they squawk and talk about eggs to lay.

It’s all in the eye as a brown or black iris denotes a boy

And he wants only lay lady lay with pink eyes to be his toy.

For what will they build a nest with another boy bird for?

Even two girl galahs cannot make eggs that will hatch more

Baby galahs without the help of a male galah and only one mate

For a wife he wants for life, for a boy and girl together is the right state

Of being for matrimony to be, to build a productive and healthy fate.

Now there is a sweet boy galah with his gallant black eyes.

Here is Polly with pretty pink.