***Please read part one first.***
Don’t forget water! The best way to provide water to your feathered friends is with a bird bath.
BACKYARD BIRD BATHS
Kindness is a birdbath. Your little circle of clean, cool water under a leafy branch is a kindness to the birds, because fresh clean water can sometimes be the hardest necessity for birds to come by. And it’s a kindness to yourself and your family, too, because watching the birds at the birdbath will bring you great happiness. In fact, a birdbath is one of the easiest ways to bring birds up close, where you can get a really good look at them. You can attract even more species of birds with water than with a feeder.
Bird feeders usually cater to seed-eaters, such as cardinals, blue jays, and sparrows. Birds that eat insects or fruit, such as wrens, catbirds, and waxwings, usually don’t find anything at the feeder to interest them. But the birdbath entices all kinds of birds, from robins to screech owls. It will expand your awareness of the variety of life.
Commercial bird baths are available at many discount stores and gardening or home improvement store, but you can make a birdbath out of almost anything. Just make sure it provides what the birds need most – cool, clean water!
What kind of birdbath is best? It needs to be shallow – no deeper than three inches at the center. It should be even shallower at the edge, so that a bird can ease its way in. Many commercial birdbaths are too deep. If you already own a deep birdbath, you can put rocks in it to raise the bottom, though this will make it a little harder to keep clean. Consider adding a fountain or something to provide a bit of a drip. The plinking sound of falling water is pure invitation to birds. It dramatically increases the number of species that visit a birdbath. For example, hummingbirds would never wade into the bath like other birds, because they bathe only in flight. But many have watched hummers zipping back and forth through the drips of a bird bath, timing their flights so that they catch a water drop on their backs on each pass. There are many ways to arrange for a drip. You can run a hose so that it trickles into the water; or install a small spray fountain designed for birdbaths; or suspend above the bath a bucket that has a 1/2-inch hole in the bottom with a bit of cloth stuffed through the hole as a wick.
Also make sure your bird bath is rough bottomed. Birds don’t want to lose their footing, and they will hesitate to use a bath with a glazed, slippery bottom. Cement is good. If you already possess a slick birdbath, you can apply the non-skid stickers that are sold for people-baths.
Place your bird bath within view from a window. Don’t forget to put yourself in this picture. Place the birdbath where you can see it from indoors, from your desk, dining room, or kitchen sink. Put the basin on a pedestal. It’s easy to see from the house, easy to clean, and safer from predators. Alternatively, you can buy a birdbath designed to hang from a tree.
Make your birdbath easy to clean and refill by placing it close enough to reach with a hose. However, locate your birdbath away from your feeding station, because seeds and droppings would soil the water quickly. Change the water every few days, or even every day in hot weather. Dump it out or squirt it out with the hose. It’s a good idea to keep a scrub brush outside with gardening tools, so that you can brush out any algae that might begin to form.
Place the bird bath where predators cannot get to your visitors. Cats, for example, like to lie in wait beneath shrubbery or behind a concealing object and then pounce on the birds when they’re wet and can’t fly well. So put your birdbath at least five to ten feet from such hiding places. Give the birds a chance to see the cat coming. Also provide the birds with an escape route. The ideal location is under some branches that hang down within two or three feet of the bath. A wet bird can flutter a few feet up to the safety of the leaves.
If you follow these instructions, soon a robin will land on the rim of your birdbath. He’ll dip his bill into the water and then raise his head to let the water run down inside his throat. Then he’ll hop in and splash exuberantly. He’ll dunk his head and let the water rush over his back. He’ll sit and soak.
When he’s finished bathing, he’ll fly onto the nearest branch, where he’ll shake off and begin to preen his feathers, drawing them one by one through his bill. A bird in the bath is the soul of enjoyment. The sight of it, even a chance glimpse through the window, will provide you too with a splash of happiness.
BIRD HOUSES
You might decide you don’t want your birds to just drop by to eat and take a bath. Perhaps you’d like it if they’d stick around while. Try putting up a bird house or two. In the bird house business, there’s no such thing as “one size fits all.” Decide which bird you want to attract, and then get a house for that particular bird. Look through any book or catalog and you’ll see bird houses of all sizes and shapes, with perches and without, made of materials you might not have thought of: recycled paper, gourds, plastic, rubber, pottery, metal and concrete. The proper combination of quality materials and design makes a good birdhouse.
Wood is just about the best building material for any birdhouse. It’s durable, has good insulating qualities and breathes. Three-quarter-inch thick bald cypress and red cedar are recommended. Pine and exterior grade plywood will do, but they are not as durable. It makes no difference whether the wood is slab, rough-cut or finished, as long as the inside has not been treated with stains or preservatives. Fumes from the chemicals could harm the birds.
You can decorate the outside of your birdhouse however you want. Do you want your martins to hang out in a Victorian home or have your cardinals roost in a clubhouse? Anything goes as far as the outside of the house is concerned. Don’t put an aluminum roof on your bird house, however. The glare from the sun will cause birds to shy away. Be sure to provide ventilation, drainage, and easy access for maintenance and monitoring. How elaborate you make your bird house depends on your own tastes. In addition to where you place the box, the most important considerations are: box height, depth, floor dimensions, diameter of entrance hole and height of the hole above the box floor. You should provide air vents in bird boxes. There are two ways to provide ventilation: leave gaps between the roof and sides of the box, or drill 1/4 inch holes just below the roof.
Water becomes a problem when it sits in the bottom of a bird house. A roof with sufficient slope and overhang offers some protection. Drilling the entrance hole on an upward slant may also help keep the water out. Regardless of design, driving rain will get in through the entrance hole. You can assure proper drainage by cutting away the corners of the box floor and drilling 1/4 inch holes. Nest boxes will last longer if the floors are recessed about 1/4 inch.
Look for the entrance hole on the front panel near the top. A rough surface both inside and out makes it easier for the adults to get into the box and, when it’s time, for the nestlings to climb out.
If your box is made of finished wood, add a couple of grooves outside below the hole. Open the front panel and add grooves, cleats or wire mesh to the inside. Never put up a bird house with a perch below the entrance hole.
Perches offer starlings, house sparrows and other predators a convenient place to wait for lunch. Don’t be tempted by duplexes or houses that have more than one entrance hole. Except for purple martins, cavity-nesting birds prefer not to share a house. While these condos look great in your yard, starlings and house sparrows are inclined to use them.
Where you put your bird house is as important as its design and construction. Cavity-nesting birds are very particular about where they live. If you don’t have the right habitat, the birds are not likely to find the house. You can modify your land to attract the birds you want to see by putting out a bird bath, planting fruit-bearing shrubs, including more trees or installing a pond with a waterfall.
Don’t put bird houses near bird feeders. Houses mounted on metal poles are less vulnerable to predators than houses nailed to tree trunks or hung from tree limbs. Use no more than four small nest boxes or one large box per acre for any one species. Don’t put more than one box in a tree unless the tree is extremely large or the boxes are for different species. If you have very hot summers, face the entrance holes of your boxes north or east to avoid overheating the box.
Tags:
backyard nature,
birding,
nature
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