Bountiful bird baths
Posted on 23 January, 2019 by Tanya Loos
It is true, we have previously written about the wonders of bird baths for birds and other fauna. But with another heat wave hitting this week, we are sharing a new gallery of pics of animals using local bird baths during our recent hot weather. On a 40 degree day, fresh cool water can be literally a life saver!
Thirsty wallaby drinks from a bird bath (photo by Jane Rusden)
However, avian visitors are more common. How many bird species can you identify visiting this bird bath? Hover your mouse over the right hand side of the gallery to click on the arrow and move through these photos taken by Frances Howe…
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Could be a honeyeater…
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These ones are small!
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Mmm – tricky?!
Another idea for birdbaths…The water stays cooler if you leave a really large bowl of water on the ground rather than having it on a pedestal. Especially during the very hot days. Putting the bowl under a bushy shady bush helps too as the little birds have shady protection from the branches and can then make their way down through the branches to the bowl on the ground…and the funniest sight is when the wallabies come and sit for hours in the bowls on the very hot days!!…sometimes with young in the pouch who hop out and around the bowls with Mum cooling it in the water.
Hi Frances.
Have you thought about putting these photos on NatureShare? As well as sharing them with lots of other people interested in wildlife, the viewers write in with their ideas about what the plant or critter is.
Cheers,
Jill Teschendorff
That’s a great idea Jill! We do not have a presence on Nature Share. It is a great resource. This year we will be exploring the use of another great visual data portal – the SWIFFT website. Tanya
I had a Goanna bathing in my bird bath last Friday. The Choughs were not happy!!
Wow Tamsin! That would have been a sight to see! 🙂 Tanya