I'm sure most if not all of us who provide food for birds in our yards also provide water in some form....usually birdbaths. That would include me too until this past Summer when I decided to vary the method(s) by which water is provided. I added 2 different water "presentations": 1) a recirculating prefab cascading water fountain purchased at one of the home improvement stores, and 2) a misting "wand" intended primarily to provide mist baths for hummingbirds. The results have been very interesting.
The prefab cascading waterfall fountain has received very little attention until this Fall when young Goldfinches found it.
On the other hand, the misting wand has been a big hit attracting almost all birds other than the hummingbirds it was intended for. Go Figure!
Below is the setup on my back deck using one of those flexible, formable misting wands also from a big box store. It puts out quite a bit of mist through the dual heads and when the wind is not gusting too badly the water collects on a couple of Yellow Anise plants below. The flow rate is roughly 1.5-2.0 gallons/hour and might cost me all of $3.00 a month to run.
The benefit this past Fall was attracting birds to my backyard that I've never seen here before including Red-eyed Vireos who seemed to come for a drink....
....and a female American Redstart who stopped in for a bath.
My apologies for the handrail in the way, but now you can see why this thread is in the Bird Talk section and not the Photo Sharing section. Plans are already in the works to correct that issue.
Obviously I was thrilled to have these first time visitors, as well as others that I was unable to photograph, show up and grace me with their presence. I thought others might be interested in seeing and hearing about this approach to attracting birds. I would also invite others to share their alternate approaches to providing water that have proved successful in their yards.
One other note about Winter usage of these 2 watering approaches. The mister appears to be easier to prep for freezing temps by simply detaching the hose from the faucet and allowing the hose to drain whereas the fountain requires pump removal during freezes. I don't think either will be operational during freezing temps during daylight hours unless I go to the trouble of adding a heating source. I doubt that'll happen, but I'd love hearing the methods and ideas of others.
