Why You Need a Birdbath in Your Yard

Summer is here and there's one thing on everyone's mind - water! Just like us, birds require a consistent source of fresh water to keep hydrated, clean, and cool. Here are a few reasons why you should add a birdbath to your bird-friendly backyard.

Eastern Bluebird pair bathing in WBU birdbath

Attract a wider variety of species
Providing a consistent source of drinking and bathing water is one of the most important elements you can incorporate in to your regular backyard birding regime. Water is a requirement for all birds year-round, and is a great way to invite a wide variety of species into your yard. If you feed wild birds in your backyard, you may have noticed that there are many species who don't visit feeders. Birds such as warblers (minus a select few who will eat at feeders), vireos, thrushes, and birds of prey, won't be found snacking on the foods you offer, but they may be seen drinking from or splashing in a birdbath. Having a reliable source of water in your yard is a great way to get views of species not often seen in a backyard setting. You may also witness some unique behaviour at your birdbath, often times parent birds will first guide their fledglings to a water source to learn to drink and bathe, before even teaching them how to find food for themselves.

Mourning Dove drinking from WBU Heated Birdbath

Keep birds hydrated year round
Birds need to stay hydrated during all seasons. In winter, birds rely on snow consumption and naturally open sources of water for hydration. Open water is harder to come by when the temperature gets below freezing, and snow takes a lot energy to convert to water. Having a reliable source of drinking water available can mean the difference between life or death for some birds when the weather gets particularly intolerable. Heated bird baths can be purchased as a single unit and are simple to attach to a pole system, deck railing, or on stand alone poles, and are kept just above freezing by an internal heater that is not exposed to the birds. Alternatively, heaters are available to add to existing baths that are large enough to accommodate them. Either are great options to ensure your backyard birds have a supply of fresh water all winter long. 

Gray Catbird bathing in WBU birdbath

Help birds cool down during heat waves
There's nothing like a dip in the water on a hot summer's day, and birds agree. Sometimes simply walking through water and getting their bare legs wet will be enough to provide relief from the heat, while other times may call for a full body plunge to cool down. Most backyard songbird species will take advantage of a shallow birdbath with 1-2" of fresh, clean water to bathe in and drink from. Adding a mister or dripper can help attract even more species to your birdbath, and helps keep algae growth to a minimum. 

Bird bath maintenance
Many illnesses are contracted through bird-to-bird contact, or through contaminated surfaces such as feeders, baths, and feeding station surfaces. Because of this, it is extremely important to thoroughly clean and disinfect all feeders, birdbaths, and feeding equipment on a regular basis (minimum once every two weeks). To properly disinfect your bird feeding equipment you will need to thoroughly clean with a brush to remove any visible dirt and grime. Once you are finished the initial cleaning, submerge the equipment in a 10% bleach solution for a minimum of 10 minutes, this acts as a disinfectant and also helps to loosen any grime build-up. Next, scrub again with a brush & rinse thoroughly for at least 15 seconds in warm water. For equipment that can't be submerged in the solution, a spray bottle and brush outdoors will work fine, just be sure to rinse thoroughly.

Happy trails!
- Shayna