Bird Bath Water Fountain
Flowing, Moving Water is Irresistible to Birds - Create a Bird Magnet in Your Yard
Author: Larry Jordan
Providing fresh water is one of the most important aspects of attracting birds to your yard. Most bird species need water, not only to drink but to bathe in. If you provide flowing water you have the best avian magnet you can find because most birds can not resist the attraction of moving water. Birds will flock to a waterfall or stream or even a fountain much more readily than they will a still pond or bird bath.
My wife and I built a pond and waterfall (what is known these days as a water feature) seven years ago and we love it. Our pond is about 12 feet in diameter and holds about 1000 gallons. In our pond we have several Shubunkin gold fish, many, many frogs and a multitude of water plants. As soon as we built the pond, I mean within days, we had frogs and birds and all kinds of creatures visiting us. The pond produced water skimmers, water bugs and literally hundreds of damselflies and dragonflies, as well as all the frogs, in very little time.
There is one thing that I feel is important to mention here. Maintaining a healthy pond is fairly labor intensive. This is especially true if you have fish in your pond. You must check your nitrite and ammonia levels,check your water hardness (KH - a pH stabilizer), keep your pH balanced and maintain proper salt levels. The whole idea of a fish pond is to create a natural environment for the fish. Goldfish and Koi like their water to be slightly alkaline. A pH level of 7.5 is perfect for them, 7.0 being neutral. To keep the pond slightly alkaline, the water hardness should be above 100 ppm to help stabilize the pH level.
With a good biological filter, the nitrite and ammonia levels in an established pond should always be at 0 ppm. Electrolytes are absorbed from the water by the fish's gills and are essential for the uptake of oxygen and release of carbon dioxide and ammonium across the gill membrane. Keeping a salt level of 0.1% in a pond with plants will maintain the proper electrolyte level in the pond water for Goldfish and Koi.
The other important attribute of water quality is the oxygen level. If you have a waterfall feeding your pond this should not be a problem. Keeping a pond in a natural state of balance is not as hard as it sounds if you have water plants and fish. If you have a biological filter and a waterfall, and you check your water weekly (and don't over feed your fish), you will be fine.
There is an alternative however if you want to have all the benefits of the soothing sound of the water and the visual waterfall, without all the maintenance. It is called a pondless or vanishing waterfall. This is how it works.
Instead of a pond at the bottom of the waterfall, the water cascades down a short stream and dumps into a pondless basin where the water pump lives. It pumps the water though a hose back up to the top of your waterfall where the process starts all over again. The pump chamber and pump are covered with rock and the flowing water disappears into the rock-filled basin.
The great thing about this flowing water system is that all you have to do is fill up the basin with water occasionally as it evaporates and you're good to go! These pondless waterfalls come in kits that you can install yourself starting at around 0. There are also self-contained, artificial rock fountains made of fiberglass and resin if you don't want to do any digging.
If you are not interested in a water feature in your yard, the next best thing is a solar powered water fountain. These water fountains are the latest technology in birdbaths and fountains. They are powered entirely by the sun, they have a hidden reservoir so you don't have to fill them up everyday and they are made to keep a constant water level in the bowl. Another alternative is a simple container fountain with a decorative pump that will produce the flowing water that is so attractive to birds.
Whatever you decide is the best solution for you, a clean water supply is essential to attracting birds, even if it is just a shallow ceramic bowl. Just remember the water must be kept clean and if the bowl is more than a couple of inches deep you need to put some rocks in the bottom for the smaller birds to climb on to keep them from drowning.
If your backyard habitat is missing a water source this is a good time to consider what kind of flowing water system you want out there! You will be amazed at the amount of wildlife in your neighborhood that will come to visit, no matter where you live.
Happy Birding!
Article Source: http://www.articlesbase.com/pets-articles/flowing-moving-water-is-irresistible-to-birds-create-a-bird-magnet-in-your-yard-542638.html
About the Author
Larry Jordan has been bird watching for many years and building birdhouses for over 26 years. He is a member of the Audubon Society and is the Shasta County Coordinator for the California Bluebird Recovery Program. He wants to introduce more people to the joys of birding. For more information on bird watching, bird houses, feeding wild birds, birds in the news, bird conservation, and some great bird photos go to The Birder's Report and sign up for his newsletter or his RSS Feed. If you are looking for quality bird and birding products, please visit his online store at Birds In My Yard for some great deals and great service.
No matter what you do, you’re going to get junk, after all, birds pee and s–t in the baths, and that can contaminate the birds that drink it. Periodically, you should empty it, add water and chlorine (bleach), let it sit for a while, and then clean out the basin, flush it and add clean water. I usually drain the water in my birdbaths once a week and add clean water. Sometimes, especially in the summer when the water goes bad quickly, I will add a spoonful or so of bleach per gallon. The bleach evaporates so it won’t sicken the birds.
Solar pumps work well for this sort of application if you’re not imagining something like the fountains of Trevi.
Sunjet and AquaSolar seem to be the brands I see most commonly around here in ponds.
Hi,
You must lag your pipes to stop the water from freezing, if you don’t the pipes will freeze and the water will stop flowing.
Try putting some thing like a plastic ball in the bowl over winter, this will keep a hole open so the gases can escape and allow birds to drink.
AS MUCH AS I LOVE PONDS THIS ONE IS HARD TO LOVE ,I KNOW YOU OVER ALL HOUSE WOULD LOOK BETTER IF YOU TOOK IT OUT .THE ONLY WAY IT WILL LOOK GOOD WOULD BE TO TAKE OUT THE WATERFALL AND TAKE THE SIDES DOWN TO JUST ABOVE GROUND LEVEL. YOU COULD USE A FOUNTAN INSTEAD OF THE WATERFALL. I WOULD USE LARGER FLATTER ROCKS AROUND THE TOP TO BLEND IN WITH THE GROUND AND USE A LOT OF PLANTS TO BLEND IT ALL IN WITH THE YARD,NOTHING BIG ,LOW GROWING EVERGREENS.
If you want make it a fountain you can buy a new piece for the water to flow out of. Yes you can make it a bird bath, just make sure you change the water so you don’t get mosquito’s. You can also turn it into a planter. You’ll need to either drill holes in the bottom for drainage or put a layer of gravel, then the soil. Just make sure you do not over water it.
What can I put in the water of my bird bath/fountain to help them and it to keep clean?
stone bowl water fountain?
i have a heavy stone bowl water fountain it had a stone fish that was the original piece for the water to come out of however, that part of the fountain has broken. all i’m left with is the stone bowl. i would like to know if i should re-purpose it or sell it as it is. i was thinking about creating a bird bath but i don’t know how. any other suggestions?
What would you do with this pond if it was in your front yard? -need lots of feedback?
I bought a house recently near Phoenix, AZ, and it came with this unfinished pond and really ugly waterfall:
See photos here:
http://www.cnw.com/~ulicip/Pond/
Come on people I need lots of feedback and ideas.
would you finish it and fix the waterfal?
Would you take it out?
Plant something else?
change into a water fountain?
bird bath?
any other ideas.
What is a good, cheap water pump to make a battery-powered fountain for birds outdoors?
People who know birds generally know that they love the sound of running water – it attracts them and makes them sing. I’d like to build a simple, pole-mounted bird-bath / water fountain for my birds outdoors. I’m trying to locate a pump for the water – preferably solar powered. Inexpensive, reliable, no issues with priming, enough of a flow to make a little sound.
1. What kind of pump is best?
2. What’s a good vendor for this pump?
3. Is it realistic to power it with solar? Source / type of solar celll?
I guess I should emphasize that it is something I want to build myself; and the solar part is optional. Thanks for the recs’ reviews on Amazon say that generally the solar doesn’t generate enough power, better to go with juice from the grid.
Would a bird bath with constant running water freeze in the water?
a bird bath with a small fountain, would that still freeze with running water?