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The Bird Bath DemystifiedSelecting a bird bath for your backyard birding station can be overwhelming. Don't be discouraged! A water source will greatly enhance your wild bird feeding station. Not only will your regular birds use it, other species less apt to use feeders may take advantage of the water. These include:
You should provide water year round. Don't make the mistake of neglecting this feature in the cold months. Oftentimes, birds resort to eating snow when natural sources freeze over. The energy used in this is better spent on keeping warm. A bird bath used in winter should not be constructed of concrete. When water freezes,it expands. Because concrete is porous, the ice literally penetrates the bath and it cracks. Some customers of mine will insist that their concrete bath works fine in winter because the use a heater. That's o.k. until the heater unplugs or malfunctions. My advise is to empty your concrete bird bath in the winter. Put out a more durable bath in winter. Look for resin, plastic or stone construction. You can use a heater to prevent freezing. Heaters have no ill effect on birds as they raise the temp just enough to prevent icing. The birds will be fine. There are heated pedestal baths commercially available as well.
Moving water is particularly appealing to birds. If your bath is "still," add a dripper. A dripper has a hose that attaches to an outside water hook-up. The other end of the hose runs to a device (the dripper) that attaches to the bath. Water runs through the hose and out of the dripper. Most allow you to regulate the flow. I prefer misters to drippers, and my experience is that the birds do too. Rather than drip, misters create a subtle cloud of misty water that the birds just love. Some misters recycle the water in the bird bath. This innovation simplifies the device in that there is no hose. However, you will need electricity because misters that recycle bird bath water require a pump. Another advantage of moving water is that mosquito larvae can not hatch. A water wiggler is another great way to prevent this. This device is a small half dome with little paddles that protrude downward. Three D-size batteries turn the paddles which ripple the water. Mosquitoes can not hatch in moving water! Cool device, though I must tell you that about 10 percent of these devices that I sell in my brick-and-mortar store are returned with problems. You can also use mosquitoes dunks to prevent their hatching. You will need to replace them about once a month. Design ElementsA well designed bath should have the following features:
There's not much you can do about the first two features if they do not exist. However, the water depth is easily adjustable by placing stones, pebbles, a brick or anything at all inside the bowl to lessen the depth of the water. Remember, a deep bird bath is like an Olympic sized swimming pool to most birds. Place your bath near your feeders if you can. They will find it more quickly if you do so. Also, try to keep it away from bushes or any other cover. Wet birds are slow to flight and vulnerable to predation by cats. Though I have found that low setting baths attract more birds, they also are a greater risk. You must judge your situation. A couple of final notes. If you don't have much of a yard, you can still have a bath. There are commercially available bird baths that attached to decks by either clamps or screws. Many of these are even heated! Also, many people opt to hang a bird bath from a shepherds hook, off a deck, or even from a tree. If these baths are well designed, you'll definitely get birds in them.
Adding a water feature to your station is one of the easiest and most effective ways to increase the number of birds in your yard. I kid you not when I say that you will become addicted to watching them bathe and drink!
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