Baths and Aquatics
The Importance of Water
Water is one of the most essential basics in attracting birds to your backyard. Although water is frequently readily available in the wild, having it near to your feeders will encourage birds to feed in your yard. Many birds that are difficult to entice with food will enjoy clean, fresh water.
When most people think of water, they think of bird baths. The best baths are shallow. If birds enter water that is deeper than their legs, they will be unable to get out again and will drown. This lesson was driven home last summer in a most unpleasant way, when I found a dead cardinal in my horse water trough.
If you do not have time to be continually filling a shallow birdbath, deeper baths can be offered if you add stones of varying heights. The birds will seek out the level that is most comfortable to them and the danger of getting in too deep is eliminated. Flat, broad stones tend to work the best. It is comical to watch the water fly as the birds enjoy a cool, refreshing dip.
It is important to keep the bath clean. Many diseases are spread through water. Cleaning your bath with a specialized bird bath brush and treating the water with a special enzyme will keep it healthy. It will also prevent the deposition of that yucky brown sludge that sometimes forms in the bottom of the bath. Do not use chlorine bleach-it can be toxic to birds. Non chlorine, oxygenated bleach can be used, but should be reserved only in the event of a disease outbreak. If used, it is essential that you rinse the bath very thoroughly.
Baths are certainly wonderful, but there are other ways to draw in birds with water.
Many birds prefer misters, which provide a fine spray of water. Birds such as robins will stand directly in the mist. Hummingbirds prefer to bathe by flying through the mist. They may use the same pendulous flight that is used in courtship or territorial defense. Other birds will brush up against leaves which are wet from the mist, causing the water drops to fall onto their bodies. They will then wiggle and shake to distribute the water throughout their feathers.
Drippers also work well to attract birds. Drippers can be put into birdbaths or dripped onto a rock or the ground. The movement of water can be seen from afar, and draws in many more birds than standing water. Birds know that moving water in nature is cleaner than stagnant water, and will always choose moving water if they have a choice. You can also add movement to the water in your birdbath with a battery operated product that creates ripples.
Give water a try. In a normal year, it is a great way to draw the birds to your yard. In a dry year like this, the results can be amazing. It’s easy, it’s cheap, it works!
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