A Blue Jay enjoys a cool bath on a hot summer day.
Rob and I do not consider ourselves birding experts, but are always willing to share any knowledge we’ve gained over the last ten plus years of feeding the birds in our backyard. And when people ask my advice about attracting more birds to their backyard, I’m more than likely to respond with “Get a bird bath!” than anything else.
We were feeding the birds for a couple years before we added a bird bath. We didn’t see much change with the first one we bought, and after doing a little more research we found out why, it was too deep. After we invested in a better quality and shallow one from our local Wild Birds Unlimited, the bath action in the backyard was immediate and noticeable.
Finding water can be harder than food sometimes for birds, so providing fresh water is good for the birds, and it can add loads of entertainment to your backyard bird watching. We’ve gone from 1 bird bath to 3 or 4 in the summer. It can get very hot and humid in Toronto during the summer months, and the birds appreciate a cool drink and a place to bath. The baths are changed often throughout the day to keep the water fresh and clean. We provide fresh water in the winter as well, and have purchased a heated bird bath. We offer a variety of sizes and one of our larger baths sits on the ground. We often joke about the backyard being a “bird spa” as the popularity of the baths tends to grow as the temperature climbs.
Red-breasted Nuthatch
A young Grackle takes a peanut to the bath to soften before eating.
A female Baltimore Oriole
A White-crowned Sparrow enjoys the smaller bath I set up.
Pine Siskin
Water cooler talk between a Grackle and a Red-winged Blackbird. Maybe discussing their migratory route?
The bird bath is a popular spot on a hot day!
The ground bath is popular with the Pigeons but other birds enjoy it too.
And from the pictures below, you can see it’s not only the birds that make use of the bird baths.
Even the butterflies need a place to get a drink. Red Admiral pictured here.
I found this article online from the Cornell Lab of Ornithology regarding bird baths and thought it may be of interest.
As with bird feeders, clean your bird baths regularly and change water at least once a day.
Til next time, and enjoy the rest of your summer!
Angie
I enjoyed your article. Thanks for all the info. We have 1 bird bath and love watching the antics, they like the rocks in it but the Raven keep throwing them out…lol