Friends A month ago I bought this bird bath for the babies,and so far they must be blind. I know this might not be the right spot,but on a balcony this is what I thought a good spot. I don't understand why the birds would rather go in the dirt and flap their wings. I never got clean by playing in the dirt. Any help,PLEASE ed Bird bath ( photo / image / picture from Edlou8181's Garden ) bird bath different view ( photo / image / picture from Edlou8181's Garden ) moderator's note: added a more descriptive title to topic
Birds will avoid a birdbath that is in a busy spot or if there is a window close by where they can see movement...even if it's just a TV. If the front window is uncovered so you can see them, you might want to hang a sheer curtain on it so you can see out but your movements are not detected by them. Also if there is a lot of going in and out of the door they will avoid it. If they have been scared off sometimes they just avoid the location completely, not worth putting themselves in danger from what they conceive to be a predator. Even though it is called a birdbath, very few birds of the birds in my yard actually bathe in them. They usually come to drink. The dirt baths do what the water can not always do, remove parasites, dry up water after a rain or water bath and soak up excess oil and generally keep the feathers in good shape. For baths the amount of water is just about right for them, especially the smaller ones who want to stand in it and still be above the water. But for birds drinking it is too low for them to reach again especially the smaller birds. You could find a nice flat rock somewhere, place it in the birdbath so the smaller ones will have something to stand on while drinking.
Ed, is that a wind/weather station? does that little propeller whirl around in the wind? that would definately scare them away. They also don't like steep sides or deep water. try putting a layer of pebbles on the bottom of the bowl to mimic the ground.You could also hang a jug of water over the bird bath that has a drip hole in the bottom of it so the birds see/hear the water. They use a dust bath for parasites. sometimes birds even lay over an ant mound so the ants emit formic acis on their feathers by trying to bite/sting the bird and that also kills the parasites. cool, huh?
I have that birdbath for in the winter here...Now I brought out a shallow one for the smaller birds. They drink from the deeper one but the small birds never bathe in a deep one... The black birds are the only ones that bathe here...and is the water filthy when they are done..I agree movement from inside will scare them off.... I never put rocks or anything in mine...too much to clean in the winter when I am heating it. Good luck...do you have any food close-by? Maybe a water wiggler to attract them to the sound of water would work...
I agree with all of the above Ed. I keep a big flat rock in mind and they usually come and sit on the rock and drink. Once in a while I catch one of them actually bathing, but most of the time it's drinking. That's interesting to me about the dirt bathing and getting the parasites off. I never knew that. Good luck and I hope you can get some pics if one of them decides to check it out.
