- Bird Accessories, Bird Bath, Bird Baths, Misters and Birdbath Drippers, Mosaic Bird Bath, Pedestal Bird Bath, Uncategorized, Water Wiggler
Add a Dripper to a Mosaic Bird Bath
Moving water will entice and attract more wild birds to your yard!
These days, several reasonably priced items that create moving water are available for you to add to a birdbath. We have an old mosaic bird bath that has a copper dripper in it, and birds flock to it! Hummingbirds can be seen bathing under the “drips” when larger birds aren’t around.
Other easy ways of adding moving include water wigglers and leaf misters. Butterflies and warblers enjoy the fine mist, and are seen daily at our two misters.
The misters are versatile and can be used in a birdbath, staked in the ground, or hung from the deck or front porch, like we use ours. Add moving water to your habitat and watch the tremendous increase in wild bird species and their numbers. Another advantage of having moving water in your bird bath is that mosquitoes can not lay their eggs…just can’t happen in moving water.
So now you’ve seen some moving water in our own yard, maybe that’s why bird food must be rationed…they eat us out of house and home! Hope you’ve gotten some aquatic ideas for your feathered friends too, they’ll surely appreciate it!
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Heated Bird Baths in Summer?
We don’t usually think of it, but buying “off season” is known to save money. With some of the larger companies, many winter biding items go on sale during summer to make room for new products. If you’re a backyard birding enthusiast, this is a perfect time to invest in higher end wild bird accessories.
Even though it’s summer, heated bird baths can still be used and enjoyed by many birds and their hosts…sans electricity. Just tuck the cord away and you now have a birdbath for year-round use.
- Bird Accessories, Bird Bath, Bird Baths, Misters and Birdbath Drippers, Nesting Material, Uncategorized
A Bird Bath Needn’t Be Expensive to Entice More Birds
In my yard there are more birds than I can feed! Food is rationed each morning, as there are at least twenty different species seen at any given time.Mind you, I could do without the occasional hawk, or squabbling, screeching crows in the morning, but seeing the Bluebirds, Cardinals, Woodpeckers, Goldfinches, and so many more daily are well worth it.
One reason for the multitude of species is birdbaths. There are nine of them in my yard, but only two are the traditional pedestal type baths. Some are merely plant saucers or containers, some with moving water in them.
The bird bath pictured above is an old resin planter. When first purchased, I had drilled holes for drainage. When I decided to use it as a birdbath, I simply plugged the holes with glue from the bottom. Adding the water wiggler to create the moving water was what really caught birds’ attention! A few river rocks in the bottom serve as a decorative feature. This bath is usable year-round as it will accommodate a heater in winter as well.
Any kind of shallow planter can be turned into a bird bath as long as it holds water and is not too deep for birds. An optimal depth is 2″-3″ for birds to bathe and wade comfortably. If the water is too deep, try adding a large rock for them to land on, or perch. Also, there is a great new item called the Birdbath Raft which turns any decorative container into a birdbath by floating on top and allowing only a small amount of water into the raft…very cool!
You can attract more birds with birdbaths–and they needn’t be expensive or fancy. Just look around the basement or garage and see what’s available to craft your own!
Birding Tips, Information & News
In my yard there are more birds than I can feed! Food is rationed each morning, as there are at least twenty different species seen at any given time.