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This journal is written by Kuma (Felis catus) and Kuma's owner Y (homo sapiens). We have moved from Japan to Australia in 2011.

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2017-07-24 23:32   Free Accommodation for Wild Birds 2

Y (Kuma's owner)

Nearly a year ago, my husband made a bird nest box and hung it onto the tree in the backyard.

* Free Accommodations for Wild Birds [Sept.22, 2016]

Pale headed rosella

My husband and I were expecting that some birds were going to use it. I saw two Pale-headed Rosellas visit the nest box quite often but they have never used it. I saw them peeking into the nest box and noticed that the hole of the nest box is too small for them.

Next Box

The nest box is set on a branch high above the ground and it's not easy to replace it. Then, my husband decided to make the hole bigger without removing it from the branch. He grabbed a reciprocating saw and climbed the ladder. As you can see in the picture, it was quite high.

nest box

He made the hole bigger and added a small perch under the hole.

The renovation is done!


= The stylish nest box is for rent! =

One bedroom with high ceiling.

The entrance hole size is just a good enough size to go in and out, and there is a perch for supporting your kids when they leave the nest.

There is a beautiful forest and two water basins near the nest box and a human's house in front. Therefore, there is less chance of attack by aggressive ravens, and a safe place to raise your family.

The humans in the house keep cats but they are indoor cats and you don't have to worry about them.

No bond needed.

Available any time.


nest box

| | Category Birds

2017-06-27 22:08   My Drawing Project

Y (Kuma's owner)

What type of kid were you when you were small? I was a kid who always drew. I drew every day. If I ran out of paper, I would even draw on a small space of a newspaper. I had several aunts and uncles who were teachers. They knew I was addicted to drawing, so they gave me paper (mostly extra English examination papers), which they were going to discard. I was an animal lover (still am) and I loved to draw animals.

In Japan, there is an old saying that the soul of a child of three years old will be the same as when they reach 100 years old. In my case, it was true. I still love animals and drawings. The difference between when I was a small kid and now is that I don't draw pictures now. I have sometimes suddenly felt like I wanted to draw a picture but that feeling didn't last long. I don't know why I could draw so many pictures when I was small.

One day, I found a Twitter account of a professional artist who particularly likes drawing birds picture. Her name is Rachel Hollis; her drawings are amazing and I suddenly felt like drawing pictures again.
They say that if you want to draw pictures well, you should draw every day.

Long ago, I decided I would paint pictures every day but it didn't last long. At that time, I was using watercolours. It was a bit awkward every time I finished painting because I had to clean the pallet. Yes, I know, I was lazy.

Coloured Pencils

Then, I remembered that I have lots of coloured pencils. When I quit the company where I used to work, my colleagues gave me a deluxe coloured pencil set. I haven't even used them! I had thought that my favorite artist, Rachel Hollis, used watercolours but I read her website and noticed that she uses coloured pencils.

I have been taking lots of photos of birds. I have a water bowl in the backyard and take birds picture almost every day. Maybe I can use those photos. So, I have decided that I will spend at least 10 minutes drawing every day. If I make a strict rule for myself, I am not able to keep it.

| | Category Birds

2017-04-19 05:10   The questions have been solved!

Y (Kuma's owner)

One day, a friend of mine visited me and showed me the application of iPad/iPhone she had just bought. It was the application of wild bird's reference named "The Morcombe & Stewart Guide to Birds of Australia."

It looked really convenient, and if I had had an iPad it might have been useful when I went out, but at that time I only had an iPhone. I really wanted it but I thought the screen of the iPhone was too small to see an illustrated reference. I wanted to see the pictures with a bigger screen.

I'm not sure how much time has passed since I saw the application, but I still clearly remembered it and still wanted it, and the opportunity finally came, I bought an iPad!

Yay, I've got an iPad!

I was happy like a child who has got a new toy. What I did was of course buy the same application that my friend bought.

When I was small, I always looked at illustrated reference books because I liked science. The feelings I had when I was small came back. I was a kid who remembered all the names of animals which were in the illustrated reference books. My memory is not so good now, but I can still remember the names, I think.

After I finished installing the application, I looked at the alphabetical index carefully one by one. Every time I found the birds I knew, I was happy and said to myself "Yes, I know it!"

I saw the application nodding or talking to myself. If I was seen by someone, I would have been thought of as a strange person.

The first thing that I wanted to do with the application was find out two birds' names.

Since I have moved to the current house, I have seen big birds walking on the turf. The first time I saw one, I thought it was a hawk. The colour was mostly dark brown and it had a long tail. I described the bird (I don't think I could describe it very well) and asked my Twitter followers, but nobody knew.

My second question was the name of birds that sometimes sing in the backyard. I heard the song but I have never seen the bird. I only knew their song and it sounded like an owl but it always sounded in the daytime. It sounded mysterious and I wanted to know the name of the bird.

It seemed easy to solve the first question, I know their looks: big, dark brown and a long tail. There are so many birds on the application, it seemed to take lots of work to find out the bird I was looking for. I looked up birds alphabetically and when I reached "C" I saw a familiar bird! I finally found the bird, it was a "Pheasant Coucal." There was the value of buying an application. I noticed there was a button to listen to their songs and I tapped it.

What I heard was the song I had been looking for!

So, the birds I had been looking for were not two kinds of birds, they were the same birds! The questions that I had been asking were solved at once and I feel so good.

Thanks for the application.

| | Category Birds