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Scroll down to continue reading about maintenance to Bird Baths and other pertinent information regarding your feathered friends and how to attract them to your garden.
A bird bath is essentially a man-made puddle on a pedestal with a shallow basin filled with water for bathing and drinking. Used in combination with bird feeders and species-appropriate shrubs and trees, a bird bath is a powerful attraction for birds, especially during droughts
Bird baths can be made with many types of materials including glass, metal, plastics, mosaic tile, or any other material that can weather well and hold water. In addition to the standard shallow container of standing water, there are also bird baths which use a recirculating pump with filters possibly coupled to a water supply with an automatic valve which will keep the bird bath water cleaner and requires less day-to-day care. Some use a solar powered pump to recirculate the water.
A place to stand
An important feature of a bird bath that should be considered in designing one, is a place to perch, to avoid the risk of birds drowning. This requirement may be fulfilled simply by making the bowl or container part shallow enough to allow birds to perch in the water. Another way is to add a number of clean stones inside the bowl, to create places on which a bird might stand.
A safe feeling
Consideration should also be made to the issue of housecats or other predators, by placing the birdbath in a location where the birds can see the area around it, and where there are no hiding places for predators to lurk. This is one of the reasons birdbaths are customarily placed on pedestals.
Maintenance
A bird bath requires maintenance. Maintenance may be as simple as a daily quick wash and refill but it will depend on the bird bath materials. This is important because of the possible adverse health effects of birds drinking dirty water or water which may have become fouled with excrement. Fresh water is important. Concrete bird baths tend to become mossy and require an occasional scrubbing out.
Welcoming larger birds
Larger birds, such as the Canada goose, also enjoy baths. They may be accommodated well by large agricultural sprinklers in a field of stubble. The sight of several hundred or thousand large geese "playing in the sprinklers" can be a moving experience. Providing such a place for migratory birds, especially in urban and suburban areas devoid of wetlands is an excellent way of encouraging them to frequent an area. As wetlands become more scarce, steps such as these can be important conservation practices.
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The Chickadees Rental War:
After a long snowy winter as I get to work in the garden I discovered the need to completely redo the birdbaths, bird houses and other bird friendly aspects of my garden. Rain, snow and ice did major damage to the pond, the birdbath fountain, the decorative bird houses and all the bird feeders. Wow! I didn’t have this much maintenance on my own house. Of course the bears took out their spring energy on the decorative bird feeders and the raccoons keep hanging off the more unique bird feeder because they appear to love that seed mix. Is there a seed mix that doesn’t attract as much wildlife as it does birds?
I love fancy bird houses, so do my feathered visitors. They flock to the unique bird feeders and great designs of the decorative bird houses and argue over who gets to move in. I have a decorative bird house shaped like a lighthouse and 2 sets of chickadees got into a rental war before one moved in and made it her own. Some of the residents of my garden prefer the birdhouse feeders. I guess that way they don’t have to go far for food, live upstairs eat downstairs. I also appreciate the more unique bird feeders, especially those designed to thwart the squirrel population. Will someone please explain to me how I can have 4 different kinds of squirrels in one yard?
The raccoons keep taking the pump out of the pond to play with it and they burn out the motor so I decided to switch to a birdbath water fountain where they couldn’t reach the pump. This works great but make sure to place some rocks in the basin so if someone falls in they can get out again. Even if you have raccoons make sure to have running water in the form of a small birdbath fountain, a birdbath or a pond. Your birds need and enjoy the sound of bubbling water and the availability of fresh water especially as we go into the dog days of summer. Enjoy the finer things in life this summer, enjoy your garden!
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