Bird baths
Choose a shallow bath, about 2 in deep in the middle with a gentle slope and a rough bottom, and set it near shrubs but not under a feeder. Change the water every day or two, scrub it weekly with 9 parts water to 1 part vinegar, and in winter keep it open with a heater, never antifreeze.
What makes a bath birds will use
Birds wade into a bath; they do not swim. Look for a basin that slopes gently from the rim to about 2 in of water in the middle: that is enough for most backyard birds, and Penn State Extension puts the limit at 2 to 3 in at the deepest. A deeper bowl works once you set flat stones in it.
The surface matters as much as the depth. Concrete and unglazed terra-cotta give feet a grip; glazed pottery and smooth plastic are slippery, so add a few rough stones. A wide, shallow basin lets several birds bathe at once, and a dripping or bubbling feature draws them in by sound.
Choose the material for your winters
Where water freezes, a glazed ceramic or terra-cotta basin can crack, and Audubon advises against ceramic baths in cold weather; it suggests a plastic bath with a heater built in. Plastic and resin are light and slippery, so weigh down the pedestal and add stones. Concrete is heavy and stable. Whatever the material, empty a bath that has no heater before a hard freeze, and follow the maker’s winter advice for your basin. If you want water all winter, buy a bath with a heater built in, or one that takes a separate heater.
Where to put it
Set the bath near shrubs or low branches, so a bird can dive for cover when a hawk passes, but not directly under a feeder or a tree: falling seed, hulls and leaves foul the water fast. Shade keeps the water cool and slows algae.
A pedestal bath is safer from cats. A bath on the ground draws more kinds of birds, and chipmunks and squirrels too, but a cat reaches it more easily: put it 10 to 15 ft from the nearest bush a cat could hide in, so the birds see one coming. If cats hunt your yard every day, Audubon advises leaving the bath out altogether.
Keep it clean
Clean water is the point of a bath: a dirty one spreads disease between the birds that crowd it, especially during migration.
- Tip out the old water and refill every day or two; in summer, every day.
- Once a week, or whenever you see algae or droppings, scrub the basin with a stiff brush and a mix of 9 parts water to 1 part white vinegar.
- Rinse well before you refill. Audubon advises against soap and household cleaners, which can strip the oils from feathers.
- Clear seed and leaves that blow in, and move the bath if a feeder or tree keeps dropping them there.
Daily water changes in summer also stop mosquitoes: larvae in standing water never get the days they need to hatch. Moving water from a dripper or bubbler helps too, since mosquitoes avoid laying eggs on it.
Add moving water
Birds notice the sound of dripping water. A dripper adds water slowly from above, a bubbler stirs the surface, and a mister on a garden hose sprays a fine mist that hummingbirds fly through. A homemade dripper is a plastic jug with a small hole in the bottom hung above the bath; refill it every day.
Keep water open in winter
Birds drink and bathe even in freezing weather, and open water is scarce then. A heated bath, or a heater set in the basin, keeps the water above freezing; both need a nearby outdoor outlet. Solar heaters work in sun but not on cloudy days. A bubbler or aerator also slows ice.
Never add antifreeze or glycerin to keep water open: antifreeze poisons birds, and glycerin mats their feathers so they lose heat. Keep changing the water through the winter, as in summer.
Make one from what you have
A large terra-cotta plant saucer or an upturned trash-can lid makes a bath. Set it on the ground or hang it from a branch by three chains, add a few flat stones, and keep the water at 2 in or less.