Your Ultimate Backyard Nature Store!
Providing Water for your Birds
Though they can extract some moisture from their food, most birds drink water every day. Birds also use water for bathing, to clean their feathers and remove parasites. For these reasons, a dependable supply of fresh, clean water is attractive to most birds. In fact, a birdbath will even bring birds to your yard that don't eat seeds and normally wouldn't visit your feeders. Providing water for birds can also improve the quality of your backyard bird habitat and should provide you with a fantastic opportunity to observe bird behavior.
For the ultimate water source set up a permanent pool in your backyard. Just dig a shallow hole in the ground and line it with plastic or cement to make it watertight. Plant ferns and other native plants around the pool to make it more attractive. You can add a pump to circulate the water if you want to create elaborate multilevel pools.
A much more practical way to supply a water source to your birds is by providing a bird bath. There are several features of a bird bath that you want to take into consideration. First of all look at the depth of the bath. A good birdbath mimics shallow puddles, which are nature's birdbaths. Add sand or rocks to the bottom of the bath to help the birds with footing or to make deeper baths more accessible. Second of all look at the ease of cleaning the bird bath. If it is too heavy for you to dump the water out or it is material that has a lot of nooks and crannies it may not be the best bird bath. Make sure you get something you know you can easily clean and move for the winter months. Third, think about adding a dripper, mister, or wiggler to the bath. Birds prefer moving water and by adding some type of movement you are more likely to get the birds attention and attract them to your water feature. Place the bath in the shade, near some cover, and make sure it is always full. Then sit back and enjoy all the visitors you get!
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Bobolink The Bobolink is an Ohio resident for the summer months; it winters in central and southern South America. A distinctive bird of open grasslands, the Bobolink is the only American bird that is black underneath and white on the back. This coloring makes the male stand out while he is performing his displays.
The Bobolink is one of the few songbirds that undergo two complete molts each year, completely changing its feathers on both the breeding and wintering grounds. After breeding he changes into a drab, camouflaged plumage to spend the rest of the year.
They feed primarily on the ground or perching on vegetation, eating seeds, grains, insects, and spiders. They swallow seeds whole. Bobolinks also build their nests on the ground, with an outer wall of dead grass and a central lining of fine grass or sedges. They may have canopy of dead grass hanging over top.
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