For several days I was thinking I had a great bird report topic all ready to go – bird baths. This idea was of course hatched during that really hot dry period last week. It was then that I realized my bird bath had been empty a while – I know, bad bird guy. When I finally filled it, literally within minutes my yard became a busy bird spa, with customers including two entire family groups of orioles – I counted at least 10 - cycling through almost constantly. But with all this rain - apparently over 5” in Falmouth - rendering bird baths obsolete, my topic now seems all wet.
But in the spirit of “when it rains it pours”, I’ll continue with my watery theme. I was shocked at how much time these oriole families spent in my bird bath over two straight days – it was like they had just crossed the Sahara. Other birds like catbirds, titmice, and Song Sparrows would wait patiently while the noisy oriole fledglings hogged the water and took their sweet time. If the other birds were humans I’m sure one of them would have asked to talk to the manager.
I don’t have my oriole feeders up, but I knew these oriole families have been around hoovering insects out of the oaks, the noisy fledglings still begging from the adults, which sounds like this – the chattering is the overworked parent. Adding water brought them down where my family could actually appreciate them as well – that’s the magic of a bird bath.
Some would hang out in our native honeysuckle vine while they waited their turn at the spa. I watched one fledgling learn to steal nectar from the flowers by piercing the base of the tube, a common behavior in some birds and bees known as “nectar robbing” because they don’t pollinate the flower as they do it. If you listen real close you can hear the tiny, angry voices of the flowers saying “we had a deal!”. Some well-known practitioners include carpenter bees and tropical birds known as flowerpiercers. Orioles are famous for robbing nectar from those big orange trumpet creeper flowers, as you probably know if you grow that vine in your yard.
All year long bird baths increase the number of species you can see up close in your yard. Birds don’t actually need to drink that much, especially in winter, but they do love a splash about. They will bring migrant songbirds of the sort that don’t patronize feeders down out of the trees for a close look – I’ve had Scarlet Tanagers, Indigo Buntings, and several species of warbler in mine. In winter I’ll get the occasional bluebird flock in the heated bath.
At Mass Audubon’s Wellfleet Bay sanctuary we have taken the bird bath concept to the next level. Our aquarist, Zach, came up with the genius idea to add a recirculating artificial stream in our bird feeder area, which we installed during covid times. Visitors can now watch goldfinches, Pine Warblers, chickadees, nuthatches, orioles, bluebirds, Blue Jays, and more engaging in vigorous bathing sessions in this babbling brook a few feet outside the windows. What’s interesting to me is how almost every bird comes back at least once, like the first bath didn’t take – I have to imagine it’s just pure enjoyment at that point.
That stream is endlessly entertaining, but the person who won bird baths has to be my garden volunteer Mike from Eastham. He keeps sending me pictures that, if I didn’t know any better I’d say they were bad AI. In the pictures, which are very real because Mike doesn’t know how to use AI, hulking adult Great Horned Owls sit on his bird bath in broad daylight like overgrown sparrows, as their still fuzzy-headed fledglings loiter around his garden like pets, making that unsettling sort of eye contact only owls can pull off.
You may not get daytime owls in yours, but get some water out sooner than later. This rain is nice, but I’m sure we’ll be back to the usual summer drought soon enough. With a bird bath, and a little luck, maybe the orioles will be flooding your yard, too.`
