Needs Me Some Quotes
Hey blog readers, I just got asked to do a very last minute article on trends for water features in the backyard for Birding Business. If you use water to attract birds to your yard can you tell me:
What did you put in? (i.e. just a bath, fountain/pump, a whole pond, heated bath)
How long ago did you put it in?
What was the biggest change you noticed after you put it in?
You can leave your answers in the comments section (although, I will need a first and last name for the quote) or you can email me through sharon at birdchick dot com.
Thanks, peeps!
What did you put in? (i.e. just a bath, fountain/pump, a whole pond, heated bath)
How long ago did you put it in?
What was the biggest change you noticed after you put it in?
You can leave your answers in the comments section (although, I will need a first and last name for the quote) or you can email me through sharon at birdchick dot com.
Thanks, peeps!
posted by birdchick at 1:13 PM
10 Comments:
Oh man, having a birdbath was THE most important thing I've done in the yard to attract birds and keep them coming around. BB (before birdbath) I would have sworn we had nothing but house sparrows and crows in the neighborhood. Now we have lots more -- it's still pretty urban but I've seen dozens more, and they ALL come to the water. I just have a little immersible pump and I pile some river rocks around it to disguise it a little. When it freezes up (not for TOO long a time here in Portland, Oregon), I tuck a little birdbather heater underneath the rocks and plug it in to the same place as the immersible pump. It's just great -- easy to see from the front window (we have only a front yard, no backyard) and because I saw there were birds coming, I was able to add different kinds of feed and keep them coming. The word is out in Portland's avian world - go to the Goertz household, you can always get fresh water there!
We placed several large round plastic drip saucers for planters around the yard for our birds. These are perfect as they are shallow and won't break if the water freezes in the winter.
The biggest challenge is keeping them algae free, but with regular water changes and a quick wipe with a cloth, they do fairly well.
Once the birds get used to them, they bath, drink and have all kinds of fun.
I've had a Bird Spa for about three years. I never had warblers, vireos, waxwings or gnatcatchers in the bird bath until we got our bubbling Spa. Now I keep a running list of bird species that bathe in the Spa, and it's way past the 30's.
You can attract only so many birds with food. You can attract anything with bubbling water!
The single most important thing is to keep it clean. Birds don't like to bathe in mucky water, any more than we do. Comet and a stiff scrubbrush are my best friends.
We live in central NJ on 2 acres and have been feeding birds for years along with providing a water source. Over the years we've added birdbaths both on pedestals and ground baths for a total of six. One of the pedestal birdbaths has a pump in it which keeps the water in motion. The pump needs cleaning at least once a week.
We had a mister which attaches to a garden hose faucet, but faced with extremely low rainfall combined with dependency on a well, we've discontinued it.
About 5 years ago we added a small pond with goldfish and frogs. This attracts some birds. Last year I added a small container pond with a pump driven dripper. This attracts birds with the sound of the dripping water.
In winter we maintain two birdbaths using heaters to keep the water ice free. The pond also is heated with a floating heater.
Water is as important as feed, and water that moves and stays ice free is just as important.
In the summer, I run a drip into a large, shallow, flat-bottomed plastic tray- I got it at a birding store but it looks like what you'd put under a large pot. It is very easy to clean- I just tip it out into a nearby bush, flush it out with a strong flat sprayer, and then re-fill it. About every 4th cleaning I scrub out the algae, which I don't think hurts the birds but looks kind of grungy. One of my favorite summer visitors to my water was an American Kestrel that sat in it long enough to get pretty soaked and then set to preening like crazy, shaking off water like a happy Lab coming out of a pond. Little birds like American Goldfinches often perch on the arched water line and get the fresh drops as they emerge from the pipe.
In the winter I mothball the drip and switch over to a heated bath, and if anything it is even busier than in the summer. A few years ago we had a big Bohemian Waxwing irruption into Colorado, and one chilly day my wife said that the trees in our backyard were full of waxwings. Sure enough, 100's of them filled several trees, waiting their turn to line up scapular-to-scapular for their turn at the water.
About 5-6 years ago we had our front yard landscaped. We planted native grasses and other perennials. We also put up a pedestal birdbath which has attracted mostly lesser goldfinches, titmice, chestnut-backed chickadees, mourning doves, and even a scrub jay on occasions. During the summer months I will usually add another source of water in the back yard which is just a 10" planter tray and I add a rock to the center of it so the birds can perch on it and to weight it down.
Living in San Antonio, we rarely have to worry about freezing problems with our drip.
We use a gallon milk jug with a couple of pinholes (one at the bottom drip corner and the other at the top with the lid left on) hanging over a regular bird bath. My husband, who makes them for us, makes the pinhole so it's about one drop per second. You can find a couple of photos here: http://picasaweb.google.com/agrunspan/BackyardBirdDrip
It conserves water by using less than a gallon a day (yes, it lasts the whole day).
We find it attracts lots of birds we wouldn't otherwise see at the feeders -- warblers, cuckoos, vireos, etc., especially during migration.
Each jug lasts from 6-10 weeks, usually splitting around the handle. It's easy and free to just make another one to replace the old one. The old one is recycled a second time in the recycle bin.
We put in one of those small fountains with a pump. I put spaghetti drip line to drip slowly into it to keep it filled with water. We have a postage-stamp-sized yard that rarely saw many birds at the feeders until we put in the fountain. Now we get lots of different birds. They love stopping in for a bath and a sip. It's very entertaining.
Nice way to get others to write the article for ya ;p
I've never had such a dramatic change in birdbath use than when I added a dripper to an existing bath.
I have seen more birds and a greater variety of birds use the bath since adding the dripper, which I leave on 24x7 at a rate of only 8-10 drips per minute.
The most exciting visitors were the Northern Flicker and the Scarlet Tanager.
Here's my post with photos:
http://wildbirdsunlimited.typepad.com/the_zen_birdfeeder/2007/08/the-dripper-was.html
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