The Australian Wood Duck

The maned goose or the wood duck which is their common name
For creatures born in the wild at times they seem quite tame
If they have not been shot at they lose most of their fear
And they will only fly off if you come very near.

The female wood duck lay her eggs in hole in rotting tree
And in the middle days of Spring in the paddock you see
Her with her little ducklings too young as yet to fly
But they feel safe from danger with dam or lake nearby.

Along with chestnut teal and black duck their numbers multiply
And farmer feels unhappy 'far too many ducks he sigh'
The dam water for my cattle by ducks fouled muddy gray
And Shooting Season should be all year round he has been known to say.

But wood duck were in Australia long before first white man came
And the Aboriginals knew them by perhaps some other name
And if duck shooting was extended to twelve months of the year
Then wood duck like other species would also disappear.

With dark brown head and dark stripe on back and mostly blue to gray
The country person see them in the paddocks every day
And if they've not been shot at they lose most natural fear
And they will only fly off if to them you come near.