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Children's Page
Bird life on The Apple Farm
by Willem Traas
Sparrows: When I was a child I could hear them when I was in bed. They
nested under the roof-tiles above me and dust fell through the roof on me
and my brothers.
Crows: To me they look like ladies and gentlemen formally dressed. But they
often make a lot of noise.
Pigeons: I donıt want too many of them around and rather see them eating
cabbages in somebody elseıs garden.
Doves: They remind me to keep peace with everybody as much as I can.
Blackbirds: They sing a lot and eat fruit and worms
Swallows: I am very happy when they arrive in the spring. Today I see them
sitting on the ESB line. I will be very sad when they leave. Where are they
going I wonder?
Thrushes: Their colour is speckled brown and grey and they sing even better
than blackbirds.
Nightingale: Famous for their singing; only once did I hear and see one on
our camping.
Cuckoo: In the spring they call their own name and do a bad thing. What is
it?
 Wren: The smallest bird on the farm. It keeps its little tail up and has a
round house with a small hole in it.
Finches: They live in various colours on The Apple Farm. The bullfinch eats
the buds in the trees. Some people catch them in a cage with a calling bird
in it. But where do they get the calling bird?
Starlings: They are bold birds eating lots of fruit.
Robin Redbreast: They keep me company in the winter when I am pruning the
apple trees.
Pheasant: The biggest bird on the farm. The daddy pheasant has many wives.
Snipe: In the Autumn they fly over from the continent. My friend Roger from
France liked to eat them.
In the air over the farm I sometimes see swans from Barne lake and geese
from Scandina via. I also see ducks which escape from Martin
Moloneyıs farm in Poulmucka and seagulls from Dungarvan. When I am ploughing they land and
eat the worms in the furrows.
I am trying to think of other birds now but I am not an expert. When I meet
my friend Dan Hogan from Tipperary who worked with us for a long time I will
ask him. He knows almost everything about them.
Next time I will write about the four-footed animals on The Apple Farm.
Summer
competition winners:
Brendan
Foley, Aislinn McCabe, Liam Lonergan,
Stephen Cleary
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