Such a thirsty blue jay. I bet you get a lot of customers for the water on hot days.
I rarely see birds use my bird bath at all, despite being refreshed with clean water a few times a day. I think they prefer to just fly a block away (either east or west) to a lake channel. The mammals seem to appreciate the water more since a one block journey for them is more difficult.
Such a thirsty blue jay. I bet you get a lot of customers for the water on hot days.
Yep. Lots of drinkers, and the Grackles like to drop sticky suet in the water, roll it about a bit, then fetch it out. Robins take an enthusiastic bath now and then. It’s fun in the winter, because that’s an electric bird bath, so it doesn’t freeze. Over winter, on any given day, the bowl will be rimmed with ice, the warmth of the water misting the air, and about 2 dozen Sparrows crammed in the warm water, having a spa bath. :D
Kengisays
Winter is when my heated water gets a lot more customers. The lakes freeze over pretty easily. One year I had to put a second, larger bucket out because the deer were drinking the six quart bucket dry every night.
Ice Swimmersays
Humans may be a bit less photogenic when doing this. I like this.
Electric bird bath gave me some weird images at first.
Ice Swimmersays
Me @ 5
weird mental images
mostlymarveloussays
I rarely see birds use my bird bath at all, despite being refreshed with clean water a few times a day.
One thing that might be worth trying is to put a smallish rock into the water. It provides a handy _safe_ spot for perching away from the edge while drinking. (My mum put one into her ground level water basin because she’d found that little tiny skinks were attracted to the water but unable to negotiate the far too deep -- about an inch -- drinking water, or, the inside of the water container was a bit slippery for them. Either way, she found no more drowned skinks once she put a decorative rock in the water.)
Such a thirsty blue jay. I bet you get a lot of customers for the water on hot days.
I rarely see birds use my bird bath at all, despite being refreshed with clean water a few times a day. I think they prefer to just fly a block away (either east or west) to a lake channel. The mammals seem to appreciate the water more since a one block journey for them is more difficult.
The question is, singing or gargling? :D
Kengi:
Yep. Lots of drinkers, and the Grackles like to drop sticky suet in the water, roll it about a bit, then fetch it out. Robins take an enthusiastic bath now and then. It’s fun in the winter, because that’s an electric bird bath, so it doesn’t freeze. Over winter, on any given day, the bowl will be rimmed with ice, the warmth of the water misting the air, and about 2 dozen Sparrows crammed in the warm water, having a spa bath. :D
Winter is when my heated water gets a lot more customers. The lakes freeze over pretty easily. One year I had to put a second, larger bucket out because the deer were drinking the six quart bucket dry every night.
Humans may be a bit less photogenic when doing this. I like this.
Electric bird bath gave me some weird images at first.
Me @ 5
weird mental images
One thing that might be worth trying is to put a smallish rock into the water. It provides a handy _safe_ spot for perching away from the edge while drinking. (My mum put one into her ground level water basin because she’d found that little tiny skinks were attracted to the water but unable to negotiate the far too deep -- about an inch -- drinking water, or, the inside of the water container was a bit slippery for them. Either way, she found no more drowned skinks once she put a decorative rock in the water.)