Attracting birds to the backyard bath: how??

[Julie]

hi all

I'd love to see some bird behaviour that involves some splashing in our new bird bath and mister. So far, no luck.

The bath, stand and mister all come from the Wild Birds store so i assume are for-real, not decoration. We change the water regularly, have added some pebbles and a larger rock with nice gripping points to the bowl, placed the stand next to two low growing conifers, and made sure the area was clear of brush that could hide our neighbours' cats' approach. The whole assembly is about fifteen feet from the end of our patio and we've steered clear. The mister is supposed to attract birds (heck, we like it in the weather we've had ) but we've turned it off from time to time in case it's scaring the little darlins.

Lots of sparrows, goldfinches and a cardinal family about, some of them seeming to eye the bath and all of them perching on the cable line and hanging on the shed roof. But no joy on our lovely bath! Any recommendations?

thanks

Julie (Coxwell and Danforth)

[Leslie Kinrys]

Your birdbath and all you are doing sounds fine, so all you need now is patience. Birds are nervous around anything new. Water dripping into the bath might help, because the moving water attracts them. Once you get a brave bird, the others will come. My birdbath sometimes looks like a pool party with 6 sparrows splashing together.

[David the park stroller]

And make sure they can "hear the water". Trickling water attracts them to our 4th floor balcony/terrace fountain!

[Julie]

Thanks-- and you're right. The first sparrows arrived yesterday, very cautiously at first, then wading in. (We noticed the wasps were previously the only occupants...) Hopefully we can expect other species. We plan to install a heating element for the winter so if anyone has advice on that we'd appreciate it.

Julie