Simple Birdbath
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Easy to Make, Fun to Watch
One of the easiest things you can do to help out the birds in your yard is to give them a
birdbath. These pictures are an example of a very simple birdbath.
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Several times he would duck his head under the water and flap his
wings rapidly. When he raised his head back up the water would run down his back and he would shake himself kind of like a dog does.
 I guess it is about the only way to wash your back when all you have to work
with are wings. He really seemed to be enjoying himself anyway. This birdbath is sitting directly on the ground, but that doesn't seem to matter to
the birds. Since August I have watched bluebirds, goldfinches, bluejays, doves, robins and probably some that I forget about take baths in this simple bowl. |
One nice thing about this particular flower pot saucer is that it has a nice wide round lip on it that birds seem to find comfortable. When they aren't actually in the water playing they sit on the rim to drink.
 At times there will be three or four goldfinches sitting on the rim and maybe taking turns
playing in the water. The goldfinces seem to always come in groups of half a dozen or so. The bluebirds usually come in twos or threes. Sometimes the surrounding trees and bushes
will have a dozen birds sitting around waiting on their turn. There may be cardinals, bluejays, finches and others all more or less taking turns at the birdbath. The only thing about having so
many trees around is that the leaves were always in the water for a couple of weeks while they were falling. I keep a three liter plastic bottle and a small sponge handy. The bottle holds
just enough water to rinse out this bath and one other, and then fill them both. The sponge is handy for a quick wipe out of the birdbaths to keep any film from forming. Every so often they need a good cleaning.
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| The second birdbath isn't in the pictures, It is a cheap plastic store
bought birdbath that is designed to be mounted on the side of a building or
pole. It is a half circle thing with a flat side that goes against whatever
it is mounted on. We have it mounted on a tree. I don't think I have ever
seen a bird use it or drink from it. However the squirrels drink from it
once in a while. Sometime soon I will move this birdbath to a different
location, probably mounting it on a pole.
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| To check out some books that will help you attract wildlife to your backyard go to our Backyard Wildlife Books page. |
You can probably tell from the pictures that this is nothing
more than the bottom of a flower pot. .True it is from a large pot, but a smaller one would work just as well. The bluebird in the pictures spent several minutes going around and around the bowl. I
watched him for a few minutes before I went for the video camera and recorded about 2 minutes of him playing before he flew off.