2016-04-24 05:30 A human being in a cage
Y (Kuma's owner)
One of my daily jobs is taking care of vegetables. I grow vegetables in the backyard and in a veggie patch. My veggie patch is an uncommon shape, it's a Decagon-shaped veggie patch. I wrote about this veggie patch on my journal dated 10th January.
This veggie patch is surrounded by net. The net protects vegetables from pests and Ultraviolet. When I go into the Decagon-shaped veggie patch, I feel like I'm a bird because it looks like a big bird cage. Actually, I saw the similar shaped bird cage at a zoo.
When I'm in the veggie patch for watering, sometimes birds come and walk on the top of the veggie patch, so I can see them from underneath. The interesting thing is, they don't mind me. They are cautious of their surroundings, something above them or something aside them, but not underneath. I'm not a biologist, but I just guessed that birds need to pay more attention to what's above because of predators coming.
Some birds notice me and look down at me. A human being is in the cage and birds are outside of the cage. It's like having the shoe on the other foot.
Usually, we cannot see bird's feet from underneath, but I can see their soles. This is a unique type of bird watching, isn't it? All right, I'll be a bird soles watcher!
Though I'm in the cage I still believe that I'm a bird soles watcher. On the other hand, what do birds think? Maybe they think they are human being watchers. They watch me with the same feeling as people watch animals at zoo.
"Look at that human being!"
"Her feeders are full of vegetables, this human being must be a herbivorous.
" It's called a vegetarian, you know?"
I feel like I am able to hear the conversation of wild birds on the veggie patch.
2016-01-12 08:00 Colourful guests
Y (Kuma's owner)
There are lots of birds here in Australia and some of them are colourful.
This photo is of a Rainbow Lorikeet (hereafter referred to as Lori), which are commonly seen birds around here. The first time I saw them, I was amazed by their colours. They are red, orange, purple, green and yellow. What a daring design!
Their characters are cheerful as well as their colours. Usually, they go around in pairs. A pair has a close relationship. Once they encounter a competitor for food, they don't hesitate to confront their foe, even if it is bigger than them, like a Galah. Sometimes, they have a little skirmish with other Loris as well. Their skirmish is very noisy but it is only for a short period of time. They just shout at each other and then it ends.
I have a water bowl in the backyard. Loris love to take a bath.
One day, I saw a Lori that had a bad leg. He tried to get to the rim of the water bowl but he couldn't make it. The water bowl was a kind of pottery and the rim was slippery. After thinking, I picked up some branches and placed them on the water bowl. Since then, I haven't seen the bad legged Lori, but various kinds of birds have come. I hadn't seen a pigeon drinking water there before, but along with Loris, pigeons come to the water bowl now.
Today is very hot. I have finished cleaning the water bowl. It's all ready, so I'm waiting for the Loris to come.
2016-01-04 03:00 The Backyard Singers
Y (Kuma's owner)
I have been searching for the name of this black bird.
He sometimes visits my backyard. His song was nice and I wanted to know the name but I couldn't find it. I have uploaded this picture to my Twitter account expecting that someone will know the name. My expectation was right, two of my Twitter friends let me know the name of this bird. It was a Willie Wagtail.
Thanks to my Twitter friends!
After that, I had another singer who can sing beautifully. It was a Gray Butcherbird.
He had a beautiful voice. Every time I hear his voice, I try to take a video to record his melody but he always comes near the window or on the pinch hanger. I want to record him somewhere on the tree, you know. Somewhere in nature. It doesn't look nice to see a singing bird on the pinch hanger with washed socks underneath. I wonder why Grey Butcherbirds come close to humans? I have searched for a Grey Butcherbird's video on YouTube. There were several videos and I noticed that some Grey Butcherbids sing on the balcony or handrail of the veranda. It almost looks like saying "Look, I can sing more beautifully than any other birds!"
I'm looking forward to seeing him on the backyard tree next time, not on the pinch hanger.