Healthy and Green Living

You can hike your birdbath’s attractiveness another notch with the sound and sight of moving water. The simplest way to do this is with a dripper.

Birds cue into a water source by sound as well as by sight, and dripping water is completely irresistible to a thirsty bird.

The simplest dripper can be made with a gallon plastic milk jug. Punch a very small hole in the bottom and one near the top to vent air. Hang the jug from a pole or a shepherd’s crook (used to hang bird feeders) a few feet above your bath.

The water should last a day or so before needing to be refilled. If you find that the jug is collapsing, you’ll need to make a larger vent hole in the top.

If you prefer a more permanent setup, there are some good drippers on the market. They have a generous length (usually 50 feet/15m) of miniature plastic tubing that you can connect directly to one of your outside spigots. Some models have a pedestal that sits in the bath to support the dripper tubing, but if the one you buy doesn’t, just use a staked support to hold the tubing up over the side wall of the birdbath.

A small petcock, or valve, on the side of the support controls the drip rate. Add a two-way adapter to the spigot if you plan to use a garden hose, so you’ll be unhampered by the dripper’s operation.
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