Meanwhile...

[rain_gryphon]

If everyone on Earth sat in the ocean at once, how much would sea level rise? Space.com doesn't shy away from the important questions.

*****

This is the first day that the bird bath has had a waiting queue. I had birds in there bathing, while others waited their turn / stood watch on the limb above. It's really kind of amazing, watching how they regulate that by themselves, with no input from outside. Everyone does get a bath, in the end, although the lower-dominance birds have to wait. The high-dominance birds often, but not always, stand guard after they bathe.

I had a Brown Thrasher at the seed tray earlier. They're by no means uncommon birds (you *hear* them ticking away in the bushes, constantly) but they're very secretive. You just don't see them in the open. This guy flew right in, no poking around, then hoovered up seeds for about three minutes, then left. I have to conclude that he was very hungry, and the temptation was too much for him. He may have just arrived from migrating.

The Downy and Red Bellied Woodpeckers have been eating from the seed tray as well. I ran out of suet blocks, and everything's closed today, so I'm glad that worked out.

I'm tempted to spend some or most of my TrumpBux on a garden pond/bird bath combo. It would be a pain to install, but would keep me busy for much of the summer. It would be nice to offer the birds filtered, flowing water as well, plus I'd not have to fill it so often. Given that everything's flat, there's no obvious place to put a water feature, but that doesn't seem to stop anyone else. The local yards are filled with piles of rocks emitting gushing waterfalls.

Comments

[moonhare]

“ Space.com doesn't shy away from the important questions.”

...because inquiring minds want to know!

And I’ve considered a birdbath for out back as the bluebird only appears out front to get a drink or ruffle its feathers in that one. The one out front was one of my mom’s. My brother threw the rest out.

[rain_gryphon]

Oh, that's really sad. I've had this birdbath since '88 or '89 or so, I think. It's seen better days - the bottom fell out one winter, and I patched it up with wire mesh and patching compound. I'm basically too cheap to buy a new one when I can fix the old one myself. I did a butt-ugly job, but the birds don't care.

It came from a concrete-casting place that one of the old neighbors opened in his garage and backyard, that only lasted a year or so. He sold bird-baths, flower-pots, and the like. I think the guy may have died, but I don't really recall anymore. I got my money's worth from it :)

[frith]

Moving water evaporates quickly. I picked up an indoor gadget that pumps water into a top cup that pours into a lower cup that pours into a lowest level where it gets pumped back up to the top. I'm surprised at how fast the water evaporates. I have to top it up every day, I think it just about runs dry after three or four days. It also empties _all_ the water if it's pouring slowly enough, but I fixed that putting a toothbrush at the spot where the water tends to miss the catch-basin when the flow slows to a trickle. Now the trickle follows the toothbrush. I need something a wee bit more elegant than a toothbrush.

[rain_gryphon]

Yeah, but if I actually build one, I'm going to go the full route, with pressure filters, and an underground tank with a UV sterilizer light inside, so the water stays clean and healthy. I want the pool shallow, for the birds and wild animals to bathe and drink from, so it'll prolly be only 150 gallons if that. Maybe another 30/50 gallons in the sterilizer/reserve, and I mean to have the water circulation to be fairly gentle^1, so it's not frightening. That ought to take a while to dry out.


^1 There is a tremendous temptation to install a 4000 GPH waterfall (the garden store has the parts) so that only the bravest birds come to bathe (I picture my pool crowded with Eagles), but prolly not...

[frith]

Why stop with at a 4,000 gallons per hour waterfall? Give it a 100' drop, add in a geyser every 15 minutes and a wave pool!

[rain_gryphon]

Crowded with Gryphons...