I am visually unremarkable,
sing loud and often complex songs.
I can be bold in my behaviours.
My wings are short and barred;
I hold my tail upright.
My name means 'cave-dweller',
forager of dark crevices.
I live on a diet of insects, spiders,
trap small frogs and lizards,
dip for fish and tadpoles.
I take snails, the eggs of others,
have been known to follow badgers
and catch creatures disturbed by them.
Bird-lore dubbed me ‘Kinglet’—
in the election of the King of Birds,
Eagle outflew all the rest, save for
the small one hidden in his plumage,
who took wing, soared higher.
I am a fire-crested, old-world babbler,
tooth-billed, black-throated, whiskered,
speckle-breasted Inca, white-bellied,
mountain, house, bay, hermit.
I am the betrayer of Saints.
I am wild; a highly secretive species.
I frequently sing from exposed perches,
can fly two thousand miles over seas.
I am the most common breeding bird.
My kind can be devastated by a severe winter.
I weigh no more than a coin in your hand.