The importance of water to birds
I love getting comments from my readers. Every now and then I get a really interesting one, like the one from Sue which I have quoted below.
Happy new year Trevor!
A Big thank you for maintaining your site…
I’m in suburban Adelaide, and I put a second bath into the garden when the hot weather struck early in the season. We have always had a terracotta pot pond with water lilies that allows for the bees to drink as well having a strong enough rim for some of the larger birds. The other two are just very large terracotta pot saucers, one on the ground, the other now in a raised garden bed under a deep shade tree.The ring neck dove (Spotted Turtle-dove) nested and fledged a chick in a hanging pot under the verandah.. Much cooler than her previous nest . Blackbird got it wrong and build a nest behind the fence post on the support rail .. But the iron faces west and is only shaded part of the day. She sat the nest for a full week before abandoning it, I suspect it was far too hot once the sun tracked round. Unfortunately, mid year, the neighbours had removed the large shrubs many of them had been using.
The New Holland honeyeaters, the Blackbird and the Wattlebirds have all now learnt to associate me out watering with a wet foliage cool off. The honeyeaters will actually make a fuss until I wet the bamboo down to make a cool and safe retreat then happily make use of it regardless of how close I am.
I suspect they may nest in the bamboo next year as its big enough to be a stable thicket.
All of them love it when the old fashioned rain wave sprinkler is put on.
They all seem to be learning new tricks to cope with the extra heat … with a little help from their friends.
Cheers
Sue.
Thank you, Sue, for sharing your delight in the birds in your garden.
If any of my readers would like to also share their experiences with birds in gardens – or other places for that matter, please leave a comment here on this article, or any article for that matter. You never know – I may feature your experiences in an article so everyone can read it.
Below I have included a few photos of birds at our bird baths.
Good birding,
Trevor.
Further reading:
- Time for a bath – an article about birds and other animals which have visited our bird baths.
Spotted Turtledove
New Holland Honeyeater having a bath
Brown Headed Honeyeaters