Apartment Garden Blues (Blog): Moving Water for Birds
- Details
- Published on Friday, April 19 2013 20:55
- Written by Alexandra Martin
I love feeding wild birds and watching them interact with each other among my container plants. Although I pretty much only get the super-common (and extremely rowdy) house finches that scare other most other birds away, I still enjoy them. To enhance my wild birds’ experience in my little slice of urban heaven, I decided to give them a birdbath.
I decided to start a birdbath on a budget (no heavy and expensive fancy birdbaths for me!). To set up my cheap birdbath, I bought a “Water Wiggler” for birds so stagnant water wouldn’t invite mosquitoes and other garden pests. Bird lovers with an electrical outlet outside can get a fountain or cheap air pump to keep the water moving. Lucky gardeners with sunlight can also get a solar-powered pump or water wiggler. The one I bought takes two D batteries and supposedly lasts for the whole season. I set the water wiggler on top of an old wide and shallow dish (too deep and the birds won’t take a bath!). The sides of the container shouldn’t be too wide – the birds might want to perch on the sides.
So we’ll see if the wild birds come and drink and bathe and enjoy their new pool I’ve created for them.
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Alexandra Martin is a professional writer from Southern California who grows vegetables, herbs, lots of aloe vera and one giant Boston fern in her balcony garden. She also grows dracaena, pothos and English ivy indoors. She loves traveling and birdwatching in addition to gardening.
