Introduction
Oct. 2nd, 2023 11:05 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
mouseboy posting in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png){kind=small}
birdfeedingHullo! It's really nice to see a community like this.
Username: Mouseboy; you can also call me Mousecky.
Your other online venues: My main homepage is my website, Gravetown.org. Mostly though, I'm on Discord.
Your approximate location: Melbourne, Australia.
What are your interests in birds? Much to the disappointment of my parents, my first word was "bird". I lived in a tiny rural town when I was a little boy, and every week we would throw a whole loaf of bread into the back yard. It would attract a whole wealth of different country bird species for me to ogle! I think that's what really got me loving birds. Now I appreciate the corvids and cockatoos and such that line the streets, and go to parks and reserves to see the birds.
How big is your yard / balcony / etc. if any? I actually have a pretty big yard, all things considered. Unfortunately, I don't know the size in square meters or feet.
What is your general habitat / climate zone? Google tells me I'm in a "temperate oceanic climate", so I'll go with that.
What do you do to attract birds, if anything? Nothing at the moment, but I plan to change this sometime soon!
What are some birds you often see in your area? Crows, magpies, ravens and corellas are the most common where I live. Seagulls also crowd around the shopping center and one of the local parks, and budgies are seen rarely too. One bird I'm not a fan of being here are the Indian mynas; they're awfully invasive. On a lighter note, now that the hotter half of the year is rolling around, the fruit should show up in my back yard eventually, and the rainbow lorikeets should show up again to eat!
What is your blog like? Mostly public save for fanfiction and silly/embarrassing rambles. Some things may be of interest and others may be entirely boring.
How active is it? I post semi-regularly, working to bump that up to actually regularly. I try to check my reading list daily.
What are your most common topics? I post RL things, things that are just on my mind at the time, and notably about Japanese visual kei musicians, as they are my main interest. I plan to post more about Kamen Rider. I want to post more furry things, too; my apologies if this makes anybody uncomfortable.
What kinds of friends would you like to attract? Anybody who would like to be friends, really. :-)
Username: Mouseboy; you can also call me Mousecky.
Your other online venues: My main homepage is my website, Gravetown.org. Mostly though, I'm on Discord.
Your approximate location: Melbourne, Australia.
What are your interests in birds? Much to the disappointment of my parents, my first word was "bird". I lived in a tiny rural town when I was a little boy, and every week we would throw a whole loaf of bread into the back yard. It would attract a whole wealth of different country bird species for me to ogle! I think that's what really got me loving birds. Now I appreciate the corvids and cockatoos and such that line the streets, and go to parks and reserves to see the birds.
How big is your yard / balcony / etc. if any? I actually have a pretty big yard, all things considered. Unfortunately, I don't know the size in square meters or feet.
What is your general habitat / climate zone? Google tells me I'm in a "temperate oceanic climate", so I'll go with that.
What do you do to attract birds, if anything? Nothing at the moment, but I plan to change this sometime soon!
What are some birds you often see in your area? Crows, magpies, ravens and corellas are the most common where I live. Seagulls also crowd around the shopping center and one of the local parks, and budgies are seen rarely too. One bird I'm not a fan of being here are the Indian mynas; they're awfully invasive. On a lighter note, now that the hotter half of the year is rolling around, the fruit should show up in my back yard eventually, and the rainbow lorikeets should show up again to eat!
What is your blog like? Mostly public save for fanfiction and silly/embarrassing rambles. Some things may be of interest and others may be entirely boring.
How active is it? I post semi-regularly, working to bump that up to actually regularly. I try to check my reading list daily.
What are your most common topics? I post RL things, things that are just on my mind at the time, and notably about Japanese visual kei musicians, as they are my main interest. I plan to post more about Kamen Rider. I want to post more furry things, too; my apologies if this makes anybody uncomfortable.
What kinds of friends would you like to attract? Anybody who would like to be friends, really. :-)
Welcome!
Date: 2023-10-02 01:36 am (UTC)Yay! I made it because I realized I was already posting about birdfeeding most days, so I might as well share since that's a popular activity.
>> Your approximate location: Melbourne, Australia.<<
That's so exciting. I love hearing about birds from all around the world.
>> What are your interests in birds? Much to the disappointment of my parents, my first word was "bird".<<
That is so adorable.
>> I lived in a tiny rural town when I was a little boy, and every week we would throw a whole loaf of bread into the back yard. It would attract a whole wealth of different country bird species for me to ogle! I think that's what really got me loving birds.<<
My grandmother used to throw out bread like that when it got old, or the heels of the loaf.
>> Now I appreciate the corvids and cockatoos and such that line the streets, and go to parks and reserves to see the birds. <<
Do you have the black cockatoos? I've seen pictures of them from parts of Australia, as well as the white ones that most people recognize.
>> What do you do to attract birds, if anything? Nothing at the moment, but I plan to change this sometime soon! <<
I looked for Australia-specific instructions, and to my surprise, discovered that many Australians discourage birdfeeding. News to me. But I managed to find a pretty good reference:
https://naturemates.com.au/best-practice/
>> What are some birds you often see in your area? Crows, magpies, ravens and corellas are the most common where I live. <<
Score a point for you, I had to look up corellas. :D
>> Seagulls also crowd around the shopping center and one of the local parks, and budgies are seen rarely too. <<
Budgies are adorable. Here (in Illinois, which is inland North America) we have seagulls around garbage dumps.
>> One bird I'm not a fan of being here are the Indian mynas; they're awfully invasive.<<
That sounds frustrating.
>> On a lighter note, now that the hotter half of the year is rolling around, the fruit should show up in my back yard eventually, and the rainbow lorikeets should show up again to eat! <<
I've seen those as pet birds. They are so beautiful and colorful. What fruit do you have that they're eating?
Also if people pester you about putting out bird food, this is one way to go around them. Plant native plants with fruit, seeds, etc. to attract birds. I do a lot of that here. I have mulberry trees and the birds go nuts for those.
https://www.natureaustralia.org.au/get-involved/take-action/wildlife-friendly-garden/
https://birdlife.org.au/discover-birds/birds-in-your-backyard/bird-friendly-garden
https://www.allgreen.com.au/garden-advice/best-native-plants-for-melbourne
https://www.allaspectslandscaping.net/melbourne-plants/
>> Japanese visual kei musicians <<
I'm curious about this. I recognize kei as "style" or "fashion" from things like mori kei but I haven't seen visual kei before.
>> I want to post more furry things, too; my apologies if this makes anybody uncomfortable.<<
No problem. Anything bird-related is fair game here. For other types of anthropomorphic interest, see communities like
Re: Welcome!
Date: 2023-10-03 09:58 pm (UTC)I can understand the reasons some Australians would be against birdfeeding; a chunk of birds and critters are invasive and such. At the same time though, birds aren't surviving very well! Thank you for the link.
We have mandarin and fig trees in the back yard; they've been there since we've moved in. They love the figs. It's wonderful to see them in my yard, because otherwise I have to go to a reserve to find some! They are so pretty to me.
Thank you for the links and recommendation for the wildlife-friendly garden!! I'll definitely look into that. :-)
If you'll excuse the visual-kei history lesson: Visual kei is a subculture/scene focused around musicians, but at the same time not really a genre or sound. It gets its name from the 80's speed metal band X (later "X JAPAN") when their slogan was "Psychedelic Violence Crime Of Visual Shock". Their style was basically glam and magazines called it "visual shock kei" because more bands were doing the same, and this eventuall became "visual kei". Nowadays visual kei bands can be any genre and have a really diverse range of looks... if they dress up and wear makeup, and call themselves v-kei or mainly play around other visual kei bands, that makes them also visual kei. Well, that's enough infodumping for now; this is a birdfeeding community, not a J-rock community!
Thank you for the warm welcome anyhow!! :-)
Re: Welcome!
Date: 2023-10-03 10:26 pm (UTC)So the part that was underwater when the other part of Australia was on fire?
>> I have seen some visiting family in the rural north, though, and I got to hold an absolutely gorgeous male at a zoo last year.<<
That's awesome.
>> I can understand the reasons some Australians would be against birdfeeding; a chunk of birds and critters are invasive and such. At the same time though, birds aren't surviving very well! <<
Possible solutions:
* Look for foods that native birds like but invasive ones do not. In many places, invasive birds are generalists that will eat garbage, whereas many Australian birds prefer fruit or nectar.
* Check sizes. If you have native birds smaller than invasive birds, you can feed small natives inside a cage-type feeder. They also discourage other pests such as squirrels -- or in your part of the world, possums.
* Again, plant native species that produce bird food.
>> We have mandarin and fig trees in the back yard; they've been there since we've moved in. They love the figs. It's wonderful to see them in my yard, because otherwise I have to go to a reserve to find some! They are so pretty to me.<<
Oh, those are awesome choices.
Given your wet climate, you could easily make a fig guild or food forest for mutual human/wildlife benefit. Lots of things will grow in a warm, wet environment. Just look for ways to expand on and support the excellent start you have.
https://www.permablitz.net/articles/characteristics-tree-guild/
https://www.tenthacrefarm.com/how-to-build-a-fruit-tree-guild/
https://www.veryediblegardens.com.au/iveg/companion-planting-orchards/
https://www.diggers.com.au/collections/companions-for-an-orchard
https://permies.com/t/46654/permaculture/Ready-Build-Guild-Figs
https://forestgardenblog.wordpress.com/2013/08/29/figs/
https://rennieorchards.com/fig-tree-companions/
https://lewishamhouse.wordpress.com/2016/11/30/permaculture-citrus-guild-australia/
https://www.diggers.com.au/collections/companions-for-citrus
>> Thank you for the links and recommendation for the wildlife-friendly garden!! I'll definitely look into that. :-)
I'm happy I could help.
>> Visual kei is a subculture/scene focused around musicians, but at the same time not really a genre or sound. <<
Ah, okay -- it looks similar to "hair bands" in America.
>> Well, that's enough infodumping for now; this is a birdfeeding community, not a J-rock community! <<
Hey, I asked. Side topics are fine if they're invited.
... but visual kei would make a fantastic scarecrow.