It’s A Bird Bath, Not…
Buttwarmer
…a Buttwarmer! I put hot water in the bird’s winter water bowls each morning, and some birds use it for other purposes than drinking and bathing. The birds were very amusing today, almost as if one more snowfall made them as crazy as the rest of us.
Another dove came up to the three warming their butts and asked to use the facilities.
Do you suppose I can fit in there?
Guess not!
Guess not!
. . . . . .
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Branch Sitters
Branch Sitters
Three doves sit quietly in the morning sun on the battered old branch over my garden. They often keep so still it’s difficult to tell them from the gnarls and patterns of the branch, long weathered and pecked by woodpeckers and chewed by squirrels into an abstract pattern all its own.
They remind me of the “bench sitters”, retired older men who, in good weather, sit on the benches along Main Street, quietly exchanging comments with each other now and then, happy enough for the quiet company of old friends.
Waiting for a Thaw
Waiting for the Thaw
Two doves are a little disappointed to find the bird bath is frozen with overnight temperatures below freezing. I guess they’ll just wait for it to thaw.
Instead, I’ll head out there with a teapot of warm water soon.
Water Warmer (2011)
Water Warmer
Wonder what the conversation around the water warmer was last year?
Instead of a “water cooler” this is a “water warmer” as I put hot water into the plastic birdbath every morning after knocking out the frozen disc and tossing it into the yard. The mourning doves are the first to land and cluster around the steamy water and take a few sips as soon as it’s cool enough, as the center one is having quite a splash. The other birds come in twos and threes, and it seems everyone gets a drink before it freezes again.
Often I’ll refill it partway through the day. Providing water is in some ways more important than providing food in the winter; birds can nearly always glean a few seeds from just about any plant that emerges from the snow, or even find little insects hidden in the buds of almost any tree or shrub, but when water freezes, everything freezes and they are reduced to trying to eat enough snow for water in their day.
Besides that, winter or summer, birdbaths are always entertaining to watch.
Dove Dissent
I saw you in another nest yesterday.
What were you doing there?
Can't I visit friends?
Yes, you and that slender little dovey were quite friendly!
Water Warmer
Water Warmer
Instead of a “water cooler” this is a “water warmer” as I put hot water into the plastic birdbath every morning after knocking out the frozen disc and tossing it into the yard. The mourning doves are the first to land and cluster around the steamy water and take a few sips as soon as it’s cool enough, as the center one is having quite a splash. The other birds come in twos and threes, and it seems everyone gets a drink before it freezes again.
Often I’ll refill it partway through the day. Providing water is in some ways more important than providing food in the winter; birds can nearly always glean a few seeds from just about any plant that emerges from the snow, or even find little insects hidden in the buds of almost any tree or shrub, but when water freezes, everything freezes and they are reduced to trying to eat enough snow for water in their day.
Besides that, winter or summer, birdbaths are always entertaining to watch.
Branch Sitters
Branch Sitters
Three doves sit quietly in the morning sun on the battered old branch over my garden. They often keep so still it’s difficult to tell them from the gnarls and patterns of the branch, long weathered and pecked by woodpeckers and chewed by squirrels into an abstract pattern all its own.
They remind me of the “bench sitters”, retired older men who, in good weather, sit on the benches along Main Street, quietly exchanging comments with each other now and then, happy enough for the quiet company of old friends.
Today 