By Elizabeth Jean
Why Install a Bird Bath?
Many people enjoy the sight and sound of birds in the garden - the color, movement, and song they provide adds life to a garden and can be very restful, evoking a peaceful, rural atmosphere.
One of the best ways to attract birds to a garden is by adding a bird bath to your garden. Bird baths do not take up much room, and can be fairly cheaply bought, and very cheaply and simply made for oneself. Birds always need to drink and wash, and by providing a good bird bath you can often gain a loyal following of birds who will visit your garden throughout the year.
Bird baths bring a whole host of benefits to a garden - not only do they provide a vital amenity for the birds, but they help your garden, encouraging visiting birds to interact with and extend the miniature ecosystem of your garden by feeding and washing themselves - they may also feed from your soil and plants, helping to keep a natural balance of worms and insects.
What's A Good Bird Bath?
Designing and installing a good bird bath need not be complicated, but there are a few things you need to get right:
1. It shouldn't be too deep - a maximum of two inches in the middle, shelving up to the rim, is ideal. Birds will be tempted to bathe in deep water, and can easily end up getting waterlogged and drowning. This can be avoided by keeping the water fairly shallow.
2. Choose a material with rough surface - concrete or some kind of stone is ideal to prevent birds from loosing their footing in the water, and to enable them to get a firm grip on the edge of the bath when they are drinking from it.
3. Locate the bird bath in a safe area - when washing, birds become more vulnerable and can be targeted by larger birds of prey, such as hawks, and domestic cats. If possible, locate the bird bath near to bushes that the birds can use for cover, but make sure the bushes aren't suitable for lurking cats! You can do this by leaving some thorny cuttings (from a rose bush, for example) around the base of the bush.
4. Hygiene is important. Bird baths are filled with standing water which will gradually accumulate feathers, bird droppings and dead leaves. If the water is left standing for too long, algae will also begin to grow in the bird bath.
Change the water regularly, and give the inside of the bird bath a scrub with an outdoor brush or similar occasionally, to remove any traces of algae.
5. Birds are cautious animals - they will ignore your bird bath when it is new, but after they see it has been established for a few days will gradually start to use it. Make sure you choose its location carefully, and then leave it to get established for a while, just changing the water regularly.
Bird Bath Designs
You might have noticed that in the previous section we didn't look at how far off the ground the bird bath should be. In principle, it doesn't matter that much, within reason. To see bird bath designs, visit http://www.garden-fountains.com.
Bird baths can have several different basic configurations, some at ground level, and some raised or suspended above the ground. What configuration you choose is mostly down to your preferences - most birds will use your bird bath regardless.
Pedestal Bird Bath
Perhaps the most common and well-recognized configuration for a bird bath is that of a stone bowl on top of an ornamental pedestal. Such a bird bath will typically be one to two feet off the ground, and anything from six inches to two feet in diameter.
Designs like this are popular in many styles of garden, and are useful for adding a touch of style and formality to your garden, especially if you by a good quality, carved stone bird bath.
Suspended Bird Bath
If you are short on ground space, or have a trellis or overhanging eves, you might want to consider a suspended bird bath. These might typically be composed of a large, shallow ceramic bowl, with three or four sets of holes around its rim, into which chains fasten to be suspended from a single point above.
This is very similar to the design of some hanging baskets, and bird baths like this can be used in many of the same scenarios - in a small container garden, or on a large patio, for example.
Ground Level Bird Bath
Of course, there is no real need for a bird bath to be above ground level at all. Natural ponds and puddles aren't suspended in the air, after all!
A very simple and effective bird bath can be made simply by creating a shallow hole in the ground, and placing an upturned dustbin lid into it, before filling it with water. Equally, liquid concrete could be poured into a hole of the desired shape to create a bird bath that could be left in situ or moved elsewhere in the garden.
Luxury Touches
Any of the bird baths described above should prove very successful if kept clean and well-located, but you can always go further if you would like to. Heated bird baths, whether solar or mains-powered, can keep the water free of ice for birds in the winter, and some experts believe that the sight and sound of a constant trickle of fresh water into a bird bath helps to make it much easier for birds to find.
Whatever you choose, you garden should become one of the most popular places in the neighborhood for your local birds, and provide them with a valuable community facility!
About the Author: To see a collection of great looking and functional bird baths visit the Bird Bath Collection at Garden-Fountains.com.
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