
A kereū in our cabbage tree!
What a flock of fabulous bird poems flew into my email box over the past four weeks! And what fun I had reading them all. I loved the way your word choices brought BIRDS alive in your poems.
It was so hard picking just a few (out of hundreds) to post. Sometimes a group of children used the same model (for example, recipes or what’s inside something and inside something else). I only usually pick one or two to post of the same poem model so some of you will be disappointed not to be picked. I also like to spread my picks across schools and across the country which is why it is important to let me know your age, year and name of school.
I loved the way some poems were imaginative and made me laugh out loud. I loved how some poems showed me the bird so beautifully I thought it would fly out of my laptop screen. Some real-bird poems needed to do some bird fact checking! Not all birds are good fliers or can go high in trees.
This is not a competition, but because I love sharing books, I am sending a book to Charlotte G (Selwyn House). Charlotte sent me a bird poem every few days. I suggested she put them in a little notebook. She could even illustrate them. Also sending a book to Cooper at Westmere School, Alfie from St Andrew’s and Porou at Te Parito Kōwhai Russley School.
One thing that shone through this month is:
💜 children in Aotearoa love writing poems 💜
I will post my April challenge in the next day or so.
The poems
The Perfect Bird
The perfect bird is definitely
A Tūī, why I think it’s perfect
Is because its plume is as
White as a cloud and it has
Blue and black feathers
And that’s why I think it’s the perfect bird.
Maisie M, Age 8 yrs, Year 4, Tāmaki Makurau
kea
car door thief
fast creeper
foggy feather
mist climber
star stealer
quick jet
feathery flapper
Leo, Ilam school
The Tūī
black small feathers
ruffle against its body
short wide wings spread out ready to soar
black beak ready to feast
by Lachlan T, Year 5 Te Parito Kōwhai Russley School
Morepork
Mice eater
Or rabbit eater
Reaching to grab his prey
Eating silently now
Perching to go to sleep
Outside in the sun, birds play together
Raining outside birds hide under leaves, but Morepork is safe in his tree
Keep on sleeping now.
Liliana R Age 8 Westmere School
A Tūī’s Dream
I fly over Matariki
I dance on the moon
I hear my tūī friends calling,
in the blackest of nights
I play in the fields of green
I sleep under the kōwhai tree
I dive through the forest of Tāne
I hear my name over sing over Aoraki
I hear the Harakeke calling me
I am free of worry and fear
I suck out the kōwhai nectar
I am free to dream
Isabelle H, Year 5, Age 9, St Andrews College Christchurch
Kea Recipe
5 cups of cheeky essence
2 rambows for wings
Half a cup of rocky mountain
5 teaspoons of alpine grass
1 scoop of the Tasman Glacier
1 tablespoon of snow
Mix it all and carve into a bird shape.
Kobe F, Y5, age 9, St Andrews School
The Tīeke
The rare exotic Tīeke
Foraging for food on the forest floor
Being a little bit cheeky
He is so majestic
I think that he would be loved
Anyone in the forest will know his name
Tīeke
Living on the brink
Feasting on grubs
He’s always stopping to think
Loving being a Tīeke
Looking for a drink
All he’s doing is being himself
Tīeke
Charlotte G, Y5, age 10, Selwyn House School
The Kea
As cheeky as a 4-year old stealing a doughnut
the Kea is a very intelligent bird
Squawking and cawing
a trickster with flaming orange underwings
gliding across the mountaintops
hail shattering across the sky
Preening its wings with care
it can steal your lunch!
by Porou R, Year 4 Te Parito Kōwhai Russley School
Huia
He’s watching me
From the history of the forest shelf
He’s watching me
The tall totara swaying in the breeze
I’m in the forest by myself
My short name is Alf
He’s watching me
Alfie L, Y4, age 8, St Andrew’s College
Ruru
Inside the Ruru, a red poppy. Inside the red poppy, chocolate brown feathers. Inside the chocolate brown feathers, the screech of joy. Inside the screech of joy, the red summer pōhutukawa. Inside the red summer pōhutukawa, the beak as yellow as the sun. Inside the beak as yellow as the sun, the R7uru.
Dante A, Ilam School
Black Robin
Wings are still
Sometimes moving.
Beaks and heads tucked under mother.
Feathers and fluff flying everywhere
Papa’s home, time to eat.
Cheep, cheerp, cheep
Delicious to eat.
Ruby R, Y4, Age 8
Hunting Owl
HOOT! HOOT! HOOT!
went owl
as he soared
through the
cold black sky.
As cold as ice
and black as coal.
Then out of the corner of his eyes
some prey, he spies.
A mouse a rat,
a squirrel, a bat.
HOOT! HOOT! HOOT!
Cooper O age 8 Westmere School
The Bird
Its wings are made of manukā
Its beak is made of moana
Its feet are made of the spirit of Rangi
Its eyes are made of Matariki
The bird is leaving tonight
The trees are swaying
Jessie, Y4, age 7, St Andrews College
Kiwi
There once was a kiwi named Fred
Who stopped at the lake to eat bread.
The bread was quite rotten
Now Fred is forgotten,
Because poor old Fred is quite dead.
Anais B age 8 Westmere School
The Black Bird
I am a blackbird flying high in the sky,
A model city of ants is below on the ground,
Swooping down brings the volume up,
The sound of engines and people.
Jakob D, Class 5, Taikura Steiner School in Hastings
Albatross
brave albatross flies
above the foggy dark forest
huge wings glide
through puffy clouds
yellow beak pecks
at fish like chopsticks
fast albatross dives
smelling its prey 12 miles away
by William H, age 9 Year 5, Te Parito Kōwhai Russley School
The box of all time
I will put in the box the first drop of light
I will put in the box the sky on the ocean floor
I will put in the box a golden gap with goodies as gold as the sun
To this day I will put in the box the fangs of a giant bird
as good as the best trained dog ever
I will put in the box the silk of the early morning as shiny as silver
I will put in the box the sky in the sunny bay
I will put in the box sand as golden as gold
I will put in the box the first thing that was ever made
I will put in the box the cutest toy in the world
I will put in the box the first fish ever
I will put in the box the pīwakawaka’s call
I will put in the box the pines of the trees
I will put in the box the tūī’s song
Xander S, Age 8, St Andrew’s College
Fantail
brown chest beating
swaying side to side
black white feathers fan out
chirps like cracking chips
white banded face brushes on fern
By Elise M Year 5 / Age 9 Te Parito Kōwhai Russley School
The Phoenix
Born from the ashes,
Red flaming feathers,
Born from the ashes,
The Phoenix dives in swoops,
It squawks,
It flies.
Ruby F, Class 5, Taikura Steiner School in Hastings
The Phoenix Curse
Phoenix flies with the wings of fire,
Lighting up the sky all through the night,
It drives with talons outstretched,
Like a comet hurtling through the sky,
It captures a mouse which turns to ashes,
The Phoenix curse will be forever.
Brendan F, Class 5, Taikura Steiner School in Hastings
Wheo – Blue Duck
A feathered flyer
A river swooper
A cold water diver
A current glider
A swimming master
A daring fisher
A dream chaser
A water champion
A wetland sleeper
Saskia F, Y6, age 10, St Andrews School
JJ the Bird
It has red feathers.
And it loves the food.
It eats worms, dogs, cats, birds and snails.
And it zaps people in the arm.
Super hard!
And sometimes it’s kind.
It only does zapping when it is super angry.
Hugo J age 8 Westmere School
Kiwi
Creeper-eater,
Insect-eater,
Explosive-peeker,
Space-bird,
A moon-eater,
A lazer-bird,
A naughty bird,
A long-nose bird,
A beautiful bird,
A room 9 bird.
Benjamin R, age 6, Y2
That’s the sound that the chickens make
Cock a doodle doo that’s the sound that roosters make.
Buk buk bukawk that’s the sound that the hens make.
Scratch scratch, scratch that’s the sound that their feet make.
Peck peck peck that’s the sound that their beaks make.
Puff puff poof that’s the sound that the dustbathing hens make.
Bawak bawak bawak that’s the sound that an egg laying hen makes.
Marlon, Y6, age 10, Pukete School
Flapping birds
Birds flapping.
Birds fluttering.
Feathers falling on the ground.
Cheep cheep.
The birds are back.
Angelo, Y4, Age 8, Pukete School
Kiwi
Rustle, rustle, rustle
goes the kiwi on the ground.
Peek, peek, peek
kiwi got a worm!
He eats it quick
and then he goes back to his den.
His wife is in
and his twin
is in too.
And then he played some cards.
Rory age 8 Westmere School
Red Rosella
Bird on a branch
Red, yellow, blue
Bird on a branch
Stuck like glue.
Bird on a branch
Yellow, blue, red
Bird on a branch
Read in bed.
Bird on a branch
Blue, red, yellow
Bird on a branch
Just say hello!
Ava J age 8 Westmere School
I Want To Be
I want to be a Kingfisher and fly where the corn is overgrown and water runs freely,
And not the sea that bathes in silver moonlight,
I want to be a Kingfisher that swoops through the pond catching the fish that swims with glowing pride
And not the stars that you see glistening in the darkness of the moon,
And don’t come looking for me through the darkness of the night,
I’m going to hop away,
I’m going to fly away,
I’m going to run free through the corn fields and the sparkling morning lake.
I’m going to be free
Aveline F, Y6, age 10, Selwyn House School
The Birds
The birds sing my last lullaby as I cry all day,
they chitter all night when I smile at them.
The Pīwakawaka dances,
The Tūī sings,
The Kiwi runs in circles,
The Moa cries,
The Kea Jumps up and down to the fabulous noise.
Our Bellbird flies to the mountain under the Bright, Smiling Moon,
She leaps and dances all the way till dawn.
Aunt’s Kōtare flew all the way around the country in the dull night sky,
As soft as a feather, she whispers “good night ” to each little child
And flew happily home.
Grandpa’s Kōtuku died last winter,
But he’ll always remember her life all the time.
He’s lonely, he lives near the river as it stares at him feeling sorry.
He misses his colourful life,
Now, it’s nothing but darkness in his mind.
Michelle Z, Y6, age 10, Ilam School
A Day In The Life Of A Kea
I soar through the blue sky with the wind beneath my wings
A warm fuzzy feeling attacks my body
Silky white clouds just above my head
The blazing sun shining on my green feathers
Lunch has arrived a colony of beetles hide in a log
I fly down grabbing each beetle faster than ever
I swallow each beetle whole with legs sticking out of my beak
The peanut buttery taste bursts in my mouth when I bite down
I feel my stomach churning and doing somersaults
The beetles aren’t still alive………..
Are they?
Holly S, age 12, Year 8, Selwyn House School
The Morepork
In the pine tree above,
A feathered brown creature
Is peering down at me.
Its large yellow eyes
Loom out of the tree
Staring curiously.
With strong claws gripping the branch,
It cocks his head at me,
Having an internal battle
Whether I’m friend or foe.
Opening its beak,
It lets out a peculiar sound
Almost as if it is demanding “More Pork!’’
It spreads its wings wide
Revealing a speckled brown belly.
With a whoosh,
It is off into the starry night,
Catching a meal if he’s lucky.
Phoebe Y8, age 12, Selwyn House School
Kiwi running
The kiwi eats insects
A kiwi is soft
It’s hard to see at night
It digs a hole
As big as a moon.
Zachariah C, Y2, age 6, Ilam School
Ruru
Yellowish-green eyes
stare into nothingness
Dark brown
Huddling in the shadow
Shark hook
Piercing your food
Yellow feet
Stuck to the tree
Dark brown
Spotted white feathers
Creamy brown breast
Stands out in the darkness
The call of more-pork
Fills the forest
Hidden in a
bush
You sleep
I wake
by Bryn D, Year 7 Te Parito Kōwhai Russley School