I have begun to collect large glazed pottery dishes that are not porous to use as bird baths around our yard, along with stands such as pot plant stands to hold them from op shops and other secondhand stores.
The plan is to have bird baths that do not have the porous nature of concrete and thus harbouring mold etc, bird baths that can be washed clean with little trouble and are light enough to collect from around the yard for cleaning.
This also means that instead of one large bird bath that all birds need to access there are several smaller ones around the yard in different locations so different birds can gather in different places.
The bird baths will all be different sizes thus attracting different sized birds and these supplement the large old bath tub that we use as a watering point for birds and mammals that visit the yard.
I have found that on one day in one op shop alone I was able to buy three dishes of suitable sizes for $12 and I had 2 plant stands already and I will buy another at an op shop.
Inside each dish will be a stone and a stick to assist birds as well as any reptiles or other animals that might venture in for water in getting in and out of the water.
Well done. Multiple birdbaths are a good idea, especially as some birds (like Lewin honeyeaters) sometimes claim particular dishes as their own territory and try to keep off other birds. Sticks and stones are also a good idea for insects like native bees and wasps that might otherwise drown, particularly in glazed dishes that have smooth surfaces.
Are some of your bird baths shallow, Wollemi? I find that Superb Fairy-wrens, Yellow-rumped Thornbills, Yellow Thornbills, Weebills & Shingle-backed Lizards are attracted to shallow bird baths & shallow lizard baths.
Hi Night Parrot,
Yes I am trying to attract native bees to the garden and often see them here but I had not thought of their needs for a stick or stone to get out of the water dish.
We have a small enclosed garden where we grow a clumping form of bamboo and I use the canes from it to make homes for some native bees and other canes are used as markers so we don't mow over the plants that are hard to see.
Hi Woko,
Yes some of the water dishes are quite shallow. I keep an eye out for an assortment of sizes to try and cater for many various birds but I also have some shallow dishes on the ground for reptiles and small mammals.
I am trying to cover all bases.
thank you both for responding! I really appreciate it.
Kind Regards
Cheryl
Happy Birding!
https://www.flickr.com/photos/138588528@N02/
You will rarely see a native bee at a birdbath but on a hot day at my birdbath I have seen hundreds frantically clambering over each other and in their haste to get to the water, pushing each other in and drowning ie potentially, before I lifted them out and gave them BPR (that's CPR for bees) :) Apparently this is a rare occurrence and unseen except by myself, but it may be that in areas without water the bees (and the entire hive) just perish in the heat. It is known that honey bees can regulate the internal temperature of their hive; native bees apparently do not have the same ability.
I hadn't noticed that before, Night Parrot, even tho' our bird bath is right next to a plant often visited by native Blue-banded Bees even as I type! Thanks for the heads up!