My neighbor puts out "tons" of every kind or bird food all year long. In summer I don't bother, but I have a small recirculating fountain plus a birdbath. I think I get as much "traffic" as she does, excluding those messy old pigeons.

One day last week I happened to be glancing out of one of the windows in our home and watching some birds poking around in the yard for bugs, when all of a sudden I noticed a couple of them had wandered over to the a/c unit and was taking a drink from the pipe that drips the condensation from the a/c. Pretty ingenious, I thought!

Hey Scenic_City - there are a number of us collecting that AC drip water ourselves to use on our plants!

Also, it might helpful for those providing water for the birdies, to add a few drops of Chlorox to the water (it won't hurt them and is recommended for those camping and who intend to drink creek water, etc.). That way, it acts as a disinfectant and it might even dissuade and/or kill any mosquito larva. By sitting out, any excess chlorine should evaporate off.

Jenny & Dicentra,

Where are you located in SE PA? I live just outside of Downingtown in Chester County and the birds are here in droves. We provide water and have 14 feeders and 2 seed cake double feeders. Recently we have had a female Wood Duck staying on our pond and last night about 80 Canada Geese.

The drought has forced me to start cutting back my perennial gardens to alleviate the stress on the plants. Here's hoping we all get some rain soon.

MaggieRedwing

I have a drip system for my garden--an extra dripper goes into my "birdbath" and puts out enough water to keep it fresh.

Rain today, YAY!

Maggie - I am in the Philly area on the Montgomery County line. You mention Canadian Geese - I hope they don't take up residence where you are 'cause boy are they a nuisance and can defoliate any lawn within the reach of their beaks, let alone produce enough "fertilizer" to cover the now-bare area. YIKES!

My mom not too far away, has maintained a bird bath for years - particularly for the robins. Whole families come yearly and whenever I'm there and she hasn't had chance to change the water, the robins start buzzing around the window and hopping around the yard complaining! LOL They like to sit in the bath and soak, sortof hogging it up from other birds. But those other birds have learned that if they come early, they can get a quick drink before the robins settle in during the late afternoon. When the robins are done, the water is almost black! Thus the drop of Chlorox.

binki - glad you got rain. We had nothing here. I watched as a few patches of rain approached on the doppler radar and then dissipated before it got here.

Maggie and Jenny...I'm in Northeast Philadelphia on the line of Montgomery County! Jenny...you MUST be my neighbor, since Mont. Co. only runs a short distance near Fox Chase and Pine Valley. I'm in Pine Valley off of Bloomfield/Pine Roads. The closest hi-rise buildings near here are Jenkintown...? Oh gosh, to think a fellow gardenwebber is so local...LOL.


Maggie...I've been out to Downingtown to use a vet there (can't think of his name). He's right off of the turnpike. Very lovely horse country there!
Trish

Dicentra - I'm over in Chestnut Hill right on the southern boundary line of Montgomery County and can see that apt. building you're talking about in Jenkingtown from my balcony (I'm about 4 miles from there). LOL!

I also have an emitter going into a birdbath, I've always heard that birds are drawn to moving/dripping water.

My outdoor cat enjoys drinking from the emitters too, or a dripping faucet.

My dog Timmy´s favorite drinking place is the birdbath... I always keep water for him outside somewhere else, plus another mug inside, but do you think he uses them? Hardly. Much better to drink in the birdbath!

Actually, our birdbath is more visited by bees and wasps than by birds. I never thought bees could *swim*, but they really do. They literally jump on the water and float there for a while drinking. What a sight! Birds tend to visit when noone is looking (and the dog is inside), but nevertheless I got a blackbird bathing this Summer. Birds however seem to prefer to have sand baths instead. Has anyone else had the same experience?

Eduarda

I have a sunken whiskey barrel with aquatic plants. Many of the birds prefer it to my birdbath, even though the risk of drowning seems much higher to me. The other day my dh said there were about 12 birds, of all different types, in the pond. I said, "IN the pond?" Apparently they were perching on the water hyacinth and water lily leaves that are just above the water.