There’s more. Check out our follow-up micro blog, Bird Delights pt2: Home Suite Home, to see where to go next on your home birding journey.

 

If it’s one thing we all tend to love, it’s birds. Whether it’s the miracle of flight, the colorful feathers, or the morning orchestra, it’s hard not to find joy in the presence of birds. You may not be a Birder  so to speak, but seeing and hearing birds is just one of the simple beauties and joys of life. I often have the chance to see them fluttering around in puddles, ew, taking a well needed birdbaths in the early morning.

I’m not a Birder persay but I’ve known a few. They tell me that the chance to see a rare or just beautiful bird is often planned for. Time of day, distance from home and travel plans. It’s not uncommon for a birder to join a group and take weekend trips to see migrations during the spring and summer. Personally, I tend to have coffee and listen to them from the window of my apartment in the wee hours of the morning.

What if you could create a safe space for birds around your home and do your birdwatching from the patio or kitchen window? It’s not too complicated. You just have to build them a safe, inviting habitat on your land. Lets walk through the beginnings of that with a simple birdbath.

Introduction to Birdbaths

Three things that come to mind for that are,

• Bird Feeders
• BirdBaths
• Bird Houses

Now although we tend to keep both feeders and baths around the office, this month, we talk about baths. We must get our feathered friends out of those street puddles. They deserve better. Especially since birdbaths take less care and maintenance than bird feeders. It’s also cheaper. So, if your new to garden décor and want a cost-effective entry point into not just décor, but garden habitat creation, a birdbath is a good starting point. It’s easy to set up and simple care will get going. Not to mention that if planned and set up properly, it’ll bring the birds to you. Once they come, you may want to get them some food or a home. First, let’s clean them up.

 

Setting Up Your Birdbaths

Birds will come to your birdbath for the water they need — for drinking and for grooming. While they’re hanging around, they will hunt for the insects and worms and seeds and flower parts they like to eat. YOU will get to watch all the “early bird” activity from the comfort of your garden.

Birdbaths need two main things to keep the avian aristocrats coming to the local bath like Roman Senators, clean water, and a cool relaxing location. This means you need to keep the birdbath in a place of shade or near shade and must clean the water roughly once a week. Make sure there’s no fecal matter or feathers floating around in the bath.

It’s best to dump the water and freshen it up then. You don’t want a lot of water either, just 2-4 inches in the middle of the bath basin. Best Practices suggest a tight 2.5 inches, but you should keep the typical size of you local birds. A Morning Dove (pigeon) is bigger than a sparrow and will need more water to fully bathe.

It’s not a bad idea to have two birdbaths of different water levels to accommodate smaller and larger birds honestly. 4 inches should be the limit though. Unless you live in pelican town. Then, well, all bets are off.

Don’t Burn the Birds

Next thing is to keep it out of direct sunlight. Robins don’t sunbath, people do. Birds want their birdbaths cool to the touch. Make sure you’re not preparing a freshwater chicken broth for our feathered friends to stay away from by keeping the birdbath out of direct sunlight and near a shade tree. Keeping it near a tree will also help them to see the birdbath as well. Keeping it under the tree, however, will help them go looking elsewhere. Birds like to spot things as they fly and make choices before touching down here on earth. Remind yourself that there needs to be a balance between shade and visibility.

Safety Considerations for Birdbaths

Now the one thing that’s going to take a bit of diligence from people like us is Predators. When birds land, they are super vulnerable to all types of predators. Creatures like snakes, stray dogs and your neighbor Sally’s house cat are all after Tweety and his friends. This may take some real thought as the last thing you want to see when sitting on your deck with the morning coffee is to see that side of nature as you sip your coffee. So as you decide where you’re going to place you “Jazmin”, Holly (Coming Soon) or the triplets “Kateryna” make sure you’ve done your best to put the birdbath in a safe place. You can’t stop nature from going nature, but you don’t have to make it easy. Just these few things right here and a keen eye for beautiful design will have you sipping your coffee, listening to Gods orchestra thinking…

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

“I wonder if they have a matching birdfeeder?” Which we probably do. So, look around your garden and figure out where you want to begin you newly designed relationship with nature and come to us to see what beautiful pieces we have in store.

Like this 3’ 1” beauty named Gai.

Until next time enjoy nature, and check out our selection of decorative birdbaths here: Lesera Birdbaths and Browse our collection now.