Watching birds on a spring day

The main thing with a bird bath is to put in clean water everyday, no one (including birds) wants to sit in dirty or shallow water, or drink dirty water. Changing the water will take you all of three or four minutes and is worth the effort. The birds will thank you, too.

It's fall now and the birds are flying south

Things began to change a few days ago. It wasn't one or two birds visiting the bird bath, it was ten or twelve birds, most of them robins. Up to this time the birds were always, shall we say, polite? Well-behaved, considerate, they queued up, sat in the bird bath, and left. A few days ago the "politeness" was gone, they were bossy, assertive, and pushy. I suspect they were preparing for the long flight south, a last visit to the bird bath and then off they went. We've had some heavy rain this week, Wednesday was the last full day of summer, it's gotten a lot cooler, and the bird bath now sits empty. 

Robin in the bird bath

Yesterday morning, I saw a blue jay in the bird bath, an early morning visitor; perhaps some visitors don't want to make their presence known so they come and go at an early hour. Later yesterday I took these photographs of a robin in the bird bath, he knew I was there but stayed in the bird bath for about five minutes. Seeing birds, seeing birds in the bird bath, it gives a lot to life...

You're a cheeky one, aren't you, little robin?

John Masefield on having a bird bath

I noticed there was a bird having a drink of water

Here is what poet John Masefield writes about having a bird bath:

    . . . I once had a bird-bath, which was used by many hundreds of birds, & gave great delight to them, & to others.

    It was a stone basin. There used to be a stone-mason at Bibury, just as you turn over the water out of Bibury to go to Cirencester. He used to make them, & had a ready sale for them.

    I had this for years, standing on an old tree-stump, but as far as I can recollect some accident knocked it to pieces: I think a big branch of a tree, or the tree itself, fell on it in a great gale which did fearful harm here about 16 or 17 years ago.

    If you fill your Bird Bath with water everyday, put near it, if you would care for it, a daily meal for the birds. Then (if you go to bed at all) you might wake up & hear them saying

    "Ouak, Ouak, & gogologk" & the rest of it.

    Birds are very punctual things, & expect punctuality in their friends.

                    --John Masefield, Letters to Reyna, Buchan & Enright, Publishers, 

                    London, 1983 (page 420)

The garden in mid-May

I always enjoy seeing photographs of other people's gardens; here are some photos of my Canadian cottage garden taken on May 21, 2022.

At the side of the house, a path, and then this lilac bush that I cut  
to about one foot in height and was told it might not survive. That
was about eight or so years ago; it took all of this time to grow back  

There is a special quality to water
in a garden, even as little water as in a bird bath

Last fall I planted this row of hostas in the very rear of the garden; 
all of the plants survived the winter and are flourishing

Hostas

This row of hostas pulls the garden together, frames it so that there is something
where before there was nothing but cedars, shade, and dirt

I added day lilies to another area of the garden in addition
to what you see here, soon the day lilies will be in bloom

A row of miniature irises

The garden is being pulled together; not sure there is any need for
more expansion, mainly maintenance, and dividing and moving
plants when they get too big plentiful for where they are now

Why do birds like bird baths?

A bird bath is a small purchase but it brings years of happiness. Birds love to sit in water, flutter their wings in water, and they'll line up and wait their turn to use a bird bath. The main thing for people to do is to change the water, keep the water fresh and clean in your bird bath and you'll have happy birds visiting your bird bath. But why do birds like to take a bath? I've tried to find out and, from what I've read, science hasn't really answered this question. There is one simple answer, it is that they are having fun, like people they like to cool down on a hot summer day, they like to be in water, it's just a fun thing to do. That's what I think but, of course, I could be wrong.

Here is a robin in our bird bath, May 1st, 2022.